Former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday blamed his party for conspiring against him in 2018 election, claiming that PTI was behind his defeat in the election.

“If I had won the 2018 election then the situation in Punjab would not be the same as it is today,” Qureshi said while addressing a corner meeting for the PP-217 by-election.

Qureshi said that he had told PTI chairman Imran Khan that the reason behind his defeat was his party.

“People of PP-217 wake up. What difference did it make to me I became the foreign minister, but it made a difference for Multan and South Punjab,” the former foreign minister said.

He said he was asked not to field his son Zain Qureshi as a candidate in PP 217 as he would lose the seat. He, however, added that some wars were not fought for win only.

In the PP 217 elections, the former foreign minister was defeated by independent candidate Sheikh Salman Naeem.

After winning the election, Salman Naeem joined the PTI and was part of the Jahangir Tareen group. However, he was deseated after he voted in favour of Hamza Shehbaz during the Punjab chief minister elections.