Cairo: A nephew of late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat has said he will steer the helm of toppled president Hosni Mubarak's party and pledged to undertake an overhaul of the notorious political group.
"The first decision I will take after accepting to be the chairman of the National Democratic Party is to sack all leaders of the party who corrupted political life and looted the people, starting from Mubarak," Talaat Al Sadat, an ex-lawmaker, said yesterday.
The National Democratic Party (NDP) has monopolised political life in Egypt since it was established by Sadat in the late 1970s.
NDP offices were a key target of angry Egyptians as massive protests forced Mubarak out of office on February 11.
New name for group
The younger Sadat said the party will be renamed the New Democratic Party and will hold an emergency congress by the tomb of his uncle in the Cairo area of Nasr City on April 25.
"I call on the young people of the January 25 revolution [which ousted Mubarak] to rally around the party after it is purged of all thieves, crooks and corrupt members in order to counter-balance the power of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists," he added, referring to two Islamist forces whose clout has grown in post-Mubarak Egypt.
The latest bid to revamp Mubarak's party comes as its senior leaders are already in prison on charges of graft while Mubarak himself has been ordered to show up for investigations on charges of lining his pockets while in power and a deadly crackdown on protesters.
