ISLAMABAD   -   Since the rumours ran rife in the political arena regarding internal bickering among the government allies, the dust seems to have settled with the bargain of some future arrangements.

The romance of the coalition partners was exposed during the budget session as the main partner [PPP] barely supported the ruling party to get the finance bill 2024-25 passed by the parliament.

Though the main reason behind the PPP’s annoyance was stated as trust deficit, the allies expressed reservations for not taking them into confidence about budgetary proposals. The recently elevated Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar had to become active to ensure the participation of allies in the budget debate.

Only three main MPs including Khurshid Shah, Naveed Qamar and Aijaz Jhakrani were seen entering the national assembly house with the minister for foreign affairs to participate on the first day of the budget session.

The rest of the coalition partners expressed their concerns but it was timely handled and soon they will be compensated in the form of further extension in the federal cabinet, background discussions with the senior parliamentarians revealed. The main government partner [PPP] with the participation of their MPs provided conditional support to pass the federal budget. The demands-cum-bargain of the PPP and PML-N is still considered a political mystery.

The political pundits viewed that the PPP had not chosen to become part of the federal cabinet but successfully grabbed some of the main slots. The party has some high political aims, if the current economic deteriorating situation could not be controlled by the PML-N in the near future, political gurus viewed.

About Dar’s elevation, the political experts viewed that the coalition partners were not ready to accept him as finance minister of the country. The PML-N, with the consultation of the party’s supremo, decided to give extra charge of deputy prime minister to Ishaq Dar so that the move might be politically realized in the future. It is also a fact that there was no formal provision for deputy prime minister in the Constitution, but there have been instances in the past of such appointments.

The political and constitutional experts viewed that if prime minister is unavailable or unable to exercise the statutory or constitutional functions and powers of the office, deputy prime minister can also, if necessary, exercise those powers and functions.

The upcoming political panorama will further unveil the scenario as the opposition by making some new alliance set to exert more pressure on the government in and outside the parliament. The government, in its first budget, could not provide proper relief to the masses and inflated utility bills have been giving an argument to register protest outside the streets.

The upcoming political panorama, according to the political experts, could be toughest for the ruling party so the importance of allies would be felt at all the junctures.