LAHORE - Awakened from deep slumber by the massive political activity generated by the PTI in the capital and elsewhere, PPP’s de facto chairman Asif Ali Zardari, for the first time since assuming charge of the party, spent 13 busy days in Lahore meeting party cadres and local leaders. During his stay here, the PPP leader seems to have learnt a lot about the current state of affairs in the party’s Punjab chapter which has been in shambles for the last six years.
Some PPP leaders say he saw what he was shown as he was kept away from many party men who would have presented him an altogether different picture of the party matters. While some others believe that it was here that he came to know about workers resentment against the local leadership and fierce infighting among the cadres.
Many opined he should not believe what he has been shown during his stay here. He should establish a sort of intelligence wing to report him on the factual position.
At one meeting at Bilawal House, he heard some party men chanting the slogan “Go Wattoo Go”, while at another he saw lady workers giving vent to their anger against the Punjab women wing president Begum Hasnain and Lahore president Samina Khalid Ghurki, the two aristocrat ladies who would not mingle with ordinary workers.
He also learnt about rivalries among his top aides. Workers also expressed negative feelings about some half-a-dozen ladies surrounding Mr Zardari like four walls of a fort. Rukhsana Bangash, Fozia Habib, Sherry Rehman and Mahreen Anwar Raja were the subject of criticism in party meetings he chaired. At one of the meetings, the party men grilled Rukhsana Bangash by name for keeping them away from the party chairman. At this, Zardari nodded in disapproval by establishing an eye contact with the lady who was sitting close by.
It happened more than once that Zardari had to leave the meeting in the middle due to rumpus created by the jiyalas. The slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto used to say that groupings in a political party were indicative how vibrant a party was. But many view that current state of affairs in the PPP is more than a simple grouping. It is infighting which is harmful for the party interests, they say.
It was here in Lahore that Zardari had an idea of how the party leadership and workers resented his reconciliation policy towards the PML-N. “Go Nawaz Go’ slogan echoed in at Bilawal House more than once during his interaction with the workers.
On the positive side, Zardari’s Lahore visit prevented some major defections from central Punjab. Gondals of Mandi Bahauddin and Firdous Aashiq Awan from Sialkot were about to join the PTI, but changed their mind on his persuasion. Two old party workers from Lahore, Zafar Masood Bhatti and Yaqoob Kamahan who had left the PPP announced to rejoin their mother party in his presence.
His visit also activated the inactive party cadres and those vying for slots became more active. The PPP was in the lime light after a long time.
Zardari left the City Wednesday afternoon saying he would return after October 18 rally and meet party men at the union council level. “I want to know each and every worker by his name”, he said at a party meeting.
The local leadership expects their leader to make vital decisions in the days to come. Whether he wants to do with the current leadership or makes a new team, would determine what kind of party he intends to organise.
A section in the party wants Bilawal to bring a young leadership into the party fold like BB did after assuming charge of the party. She organised a team of young and motivated people like Jehangir Badr, Aitzaz Ahsan, Qasim Zia, Fakhar Zaman, Faisal Saleh Hayat and Farooq Leghari at that time to strengthen the party.
The process has begun in Sindh with the induction of Sharjeel Memon, Saeed Ghani, Shehla Raza and Sharmeela Farooqi, Murad Shah and Hasnain Mirza who are the party face in the province.