In a situation when many developments in the country lead one to believe that the general elections will be held on time, political activities in the provincial metropolis have begun to pick up momentum. Almost every political party, as part of election preparations, is consolidating its position by way of striking better understanding with other parties and accepting new people into its folds. The PPP’s alleged plans to extend the government’s tenure by one year appear to have been effectively foiled by the opposition parties.
Now various federal ministers are indicating the timeframe of the upcoming elections. It is being expected that the elections will be held anytime between March and May. Keeping this timeline in mind, the government-opposition talks for the interim setup are likely to start by the mid of this month. The PPP and the PML-N have already given the names of leaders they want to head the interim setup.
All major political parties – the PPP, the PML-N, the PML-Q and the PTI – are concentrating on Punjab, which is expected to be main battlefield in the next elections. Both the PML-N and the PPP are eying to rule the Centre along with Punjab; while the PML-Q, a partner of the latter, has higher stakes in the province than the centre. On the other hand, the Jamaat-e-Islami is reaching out to other religious parties for bringing them on a joint platform to contest the elections or strike a better deal if they choose to form alliance with any major party.
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Reportedly, the recent appointment of Manzoor Wattoo as the PPP Central Punjab president has not been taken in good taste by the PML-Q leadership. Wattoo, in his first visit to the City after assuming the new office, challenged the PML-N and claimed that he would conquer the province for the PPP. But, instead of scaring away the PML-N, Wattoo’s appointment has seriously alarmed the PML-Q leadership.
As expected, the Chaudhrys recorded their protest with President Asif Ali Zardari, after which Punjab Governor Latif Khosa met with and gave them certain assurances. However, the PML-Q is not yet fully satisfied and apparently has reservations over Wattoo. This was confirmed when the PML-Q sent its second-tier leadership to the Governor’s House on Friday for a meeting with Wattoo and other PPP leaders.
Wattoo, who joined the PPP after winning the 2008 elections an an independent candidate, is still a ‘stranger’ to the majority of diehard PPP workers, or Jiyalas; therefore he may have to give a second thought to his mission ‘Conquer Punjab’. Before taking further steps towards this end, he will have to make himself fully acceptable to PPP leaders and workers, as well as address the reservations of the PML-Q leadership.
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The PML-N has achieved a lot in political terms during the last few days with a number of PPP, PML-Q and PTI bigwigs announcing to join this party after meeting with Nawaz Sharif. The most prominent leader who has joined the PML-N in the last few days is PPP’s Rana Ikram Rabbani, a former provincial minister who hails from Okara. At the time of the 2002 elections, Rabbani had said goodbye to the PPP after about three decades of association and joined the PML-Q. However, he left the ruling party to again join the PPP after PPP-Patriot leader Rao Sikander Iqbal, who had defeated him in the elections, was made the defence minister.
Rabbani said after joining the PML-N that he had quit the PPP in protest against Wattoo’s appointment, which according to him amounted to a no-confidence in the senior PPP leadership. Besides Rabbani, former PML-Q provincial minister Rana Shamshad Ahmad Khan from Kamoke, PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Vice President Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gilani and senior PTI leader Iftikharuddin Khattak have also joined the PML-N in the last few days.
Also, the PML-N and the PML-Likeminded leaderships recently met to work out a strategy for giving a tough time to the opponents in the elections. The meeting also discussed the potential names for seats adjustment on both sides, while combined committees were formed to mobilise voters at the district level. The meeting’s participants also exchanged views on candidates suitable for various constituencies. The PML-L delegation, which demanded tickets for 33 National Assembly and 66 Punjab Assembly seats, comprised Hamid Nasir Chattha, Saleem Saifullah Khan and Humayun Akhtar Khan, who were all with the PML-Q during the Gen (r) Musharraf era.
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The PTI celebrated the Revolution Day to mark the first anniversary of the huge public gathering the party had held at the Minar-e-Pakistan on October 30, 2011. PTI Chairman Imran Khan had termed the massive turn out of the public a tsunami, the tides of which would wash away both the PML-N and the PPP and bring about a revolutionary change within 90 days. The highly impressive show of strength took the PTI to the new heights of popularity. The media projected the party graph higher than that of others and predicted that it would sweep the elections. The party’s rallies later held in Multan, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Quetta and others parts were equally impressive.
Believing that the party would make big strides in politics, a number of politicians jumped onto the PTI bandwagon to see the tsunami submerging the rivals. Among them were heavyweights such as Javed Hashmi, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali, Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri and Shafqat Mahmood. The majority of the newcomers in the PTI had served under Gen (r) Musharraf and this created doubts about their credibility.
Imran’s tirade was mostly directed against the PML-N leadership, which took no time to dub the PTI as an ISI-sponsored party. The early euphoria began to subside after the PTI failed to maintain a balance between old and new guards. As a result, many of them quit the party, including among others Vice Admiral (r) Javed Iqbal and Dr Shirin Mazari. A survey recently conducted by the IRI shows that the graph of the PTI’s popularity is down from what it was a year ago.