LAHORE - Encouraged by the successful show of strength by the Opposition parties against the government over power cuts on Friday last, the PPP seems eager at the prospects of converting the present consensus into an electoral alliance against the government.
As the PTI seems to be the only hurdle in the way of forging a greater Opposition’s alliance at the time of next general elections, the PPP leadership intends to keep the present alliance intact as long as possible, and to make a move at some later stage to transform the same into an election alliance.
The mainstream Opposition parties including the PPP, the PTI, the PML-Q, JI and PAT put up an impressive show on Friday last against the government at Lahore and elsewhere when their activists marched on roads against the power outages.
Party’s southern Punjab President Makhdum Ahmed Mehmud also hinted at the possibility of such an alliance taking its shape in the future during his informal chat with senior journalists on Sunday.
“The Opposition parties in Punjab will have to get united against the PML-N to create more political space for them in the coming polls”, Makhdum remarked.
Asked that PTI would not like the idea of forging an electoral alliance with other Opposition parties in view of its anticipated popularity among the masses, Makhdum said saner elements within Imran’s party had the realisation that the their party could not win the electoral battle in Punjab all alone.
It would not be out of place to mention here that a senior leader of the PTI, Jehangir Tareen, also a close aide of party chief Imran Khan, happens to be brother-in-law of Ahmed Mehmud.
Makhdum, also a former Punjab Governor, was confident that his party’s efforts to unite the Opposition parties on one platform would soon turn into reality. All Opposition parties, he said, were of the view that an alliance can be formed ahead of Local Bodies’ election.
He expressed his optimism that all Opposition parties including the PTI would get united on a single platform before the next general elections.
He also told journalists that honey moon period of reconciliation between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former President Asif Ali Zardari was over now. He attributed this to Sharif’s straight refusal to see the PPP leader after latter’s speech against the military establishment.
To a question about Bilawal’s ability to galvanise the party in Punjab, Ahmad Mehmud said that he would have to make a mark on the hearts of the electorate utilising his own qualities of leadership and charisma. “It would prove to be a great test of Bilawal’s abilities to create a space in politics”, he commented.
Ahmad said party cadres were prepared to welcome Bilawal in Punjab any time. He said Bilawal would also visit South Punjab this time besides taking part in political activities at Lahore.
He said that since the PPP was going to pay the role of a real Opposition in the days to come, Bilawal would be seen on roads against the government’s anti-people policies. To a question, he said that level of corruption in Punjab was higher than Sindh. “This is the reason that my party has asked the establishment to start the process of accountability from Punjab and then take it to other provinces”, he stated.