“Some people in the KP are easily fooled. This [PTI] disease came from there [KP],” he said during a party event in Lahore where he unveiled the party’s election manifesto.

“The people of KP should understand what kind of man they gave a chance to,” he said in an apparent reference to PTI founder Imran Khan.

Recalling the 2013 elections, Sharif said that his party declined the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) offer to form a coalition government in the province.

“In hindsight, I believe we made a wrong decision. They [PTI] should not have been allowed to come [to power],” he added.

The statement enraged several including analyst Saleem Safi who reminded Sharif that the PTI founder hailed from Lahore while he had offered Khan to join his party in the past.

“If PTI is a disease, then this disease has spread from Lahore,” Safi wrote on X.

The PTI also reacted to the statement, saying that calling the people of KP naive just because they refuse to vote for PML-N is a “true representation of the party’s mindset.”

“The constant hate against Pakistan’s provinces is condemnable. Imran Khan has always strived to bring national cohesion, he is a symbol of federalism!” the party said in a post on X.