He made the remarks while talking to anchorperson Rana Mubashir. The senior politician was asked if he was fine working under Maryam's command.
Upon being inquired further, he said, “Look, my leader is Nawaz Sharif, not Maryam. She may be a leader, but she cannot be my leader.”
Earlier this month, Abbasi said Maryam, daughter of party supremo Nawaz Sharif, needed “space”, after assuming her new role as the senior vice-president.
“I've stepped down from my post but I stand by the party and will always be a part of it,” he was quoted as saying.
She “needs space”, Abbasi said, suggesting that the previous hierarchy would’ve given rise to a difference of opinion, which, he said, wasn’t “suitable for anyone.”
He had also earlier said that it wasn’t appropriate for him to share the same party rank once Maryam was elevated to the post.
It was reported last month that the top leadership was uneasy at the role granted to the popular leader.
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According to a notification issued at the time, she became the second-most leader of the party after Shehbaz Sharif, party president and the incumbent prime minister of the country.
Sources said that the top cadre wasn’t taken into confidence on the aforesaid decision, and that several members were uneasy about it.
In a more recent development, another senior party leader Mehtab Abbasi lashed out at the top cadre, saying the party will have to reveal ‘how they came to power’ in the first place.
Mehtab – who has also served as the former governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – said political parties in the parliament were incapable of representing the House.
“All parties are enjoying the perks of being in the power,” he said and added, “the reins of the PML-N is currently in the hands of those who are using it to make money.”
He further said that those who were with the dictators in the past are currently holding top posts in the party.
The provincial leadership of the ruling party has brought it to the brink. “The beneficiaries of the current policies are responsible for the mess, not the people,” Mehtab Abbasi had said.