Former finance minister Asad Umar has clarified that he is not joining any political party and rebuffed rumours of associating with the Awaam Pakistan party.

“Best of luck to everyone. Yes, I have sympathy for PTI as I have served a long time in it,” he said while appearing on Rubaroo via video link which was aired on Aaj News on Friday.

Umar resigned as the PTI’s secretary general in May following the May 9 riots. Five months later, he resigned from the party’s basic membership as well as quit politics.

His exit from Imran Khan’s party had followed a long list of politicians who have quit the PTI after a nationwide crackdown was launched against the party and hundreds of prominent leaders were arrested following the May 9 events.

When asked why people went away from Khan, Umar claimed that the establishment put pressure on the leaders to quit PTI. He added that the party’s vote bank was because of the former prime minister.

The host reminded him that big PTI leaders like Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan also parted ways with the party when Khan was in power.

Umar was of the view that only Khan and Tareen would answer about their alleged difference. While sharing his analysis, he said that it might be because of former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar.

He shared that Buzdar used to be “afraid” when the two leaders were in the same room.

The former planning minister wondered why the PTI was not willing to talk to the government about Khan’s release despite the fact that it was ready to talk with the ruling coalition on foreign policy, electricity, and inflation.