Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah on Wednesday lashed out at the federal government for power cuts across the country, as the death toll from the heat wave reached 830 in four days. He added that the centre should take over Karachi Electric (KE) and that Qaim Ali Shah’s Sindh government would support the move. Adopting a defensive attitude, Asif said KE is responsible for providing electricity to Sindh and not the federal government (making the KE the sacrificial lamb).

While Shah’s verbal thrashing is justified, lets not forget that under his own party’s government Thar has been ravaged by famine and Karachi has seen no respite in crime nor has its resources crisis in water and electricity been stemmed. With Zardari having cornered himself with his anti-Army tirade, and being further humiliated by PML-N refusing Iftari invitations, the PPP will try all sorts of things to discredit the PML-N (and a lot of these will be justified as well).

Looking at the crisis of national politics, PPP’s association with the MQM in Karachi makes the situation even worse after the recent revelation of MQM’s links with RAW. With the PPP and MQM tearing themselves apart from the inside, and the PML-N bumbling though one crisis after another, this is prime time for the PTI to get a hook into vote banks in Sindh. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA Asad Umar questioned the status of Nandipur and Gaddani power projects. He threw his weight behind the opposition leader and lashed out at Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Current events put the PTI in a strong position to make deals and lobby for its issues. Zardai’s leadership of the PPP in the last year has been a fiasco, from the Rangers operation in Karachi to Zulfiqar Mirza’s accusations to Bilawal’s constant hide-and-seek act. In the chaotic mess of nation’s political parties, what is clear about all policies and strategies being made is that all control is damage control.