 In 2017 he was made Chairman House Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs

In March 2018, he became business partner of Jahangir Khan Tareen after they together purchased a sugar mill for Rs 27 billion.This triggered speculation that he might join PTI soon.On 9 April 2018, Bakhtiar, together with seven other PML-N parliamentarians, quit the PML-N and formed a new group under the name of "Junoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaaz".