DERA GHAZI KHAN - At NA-173 constituency, two traditional contestants are in the race from their changed political platforms while the PML-N, whose candidate had won the National Assembly seat in the last elections, is still indecisive to nominate its candidate there for the upcoming elections.
Sardar Saifuddin Khosa had quit the PML-N owing to his differences with his father Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa who had then announced to contest an election against his son but he did not submit even nomination papers as he is a senator.
The PML.N is expected to award the ticket to former tehsil nazim Asim Zubair Khosa who was in fact interested in contesting the general election from PP-242. He will make a debut at the constituency as a candidate for the MNA slot though he has not yet launched his election campaign.
The party’s position is not strong enough in PP-246, which falls under NA-173 and wherefrom its former ticket holder Rashid Kamran joined the PPP. PML.N has no strong figure to field against two big guns there when Saif Khosa is more popular than Owais Ahmed Leghari who has quit the PML.Q. An attempt was made by the top leadership to settle the row at a joint session but its consequences could not lead to end of the grouping within the party.
During the general election 2008, Saifuddin Khosa represented the PML-N while Owais Leghari was a candidate of PML.Q grabbing 56,475 and 56,074 votes respectively.
It is considered that Khosa family will not oppose Saif in the public meetings as the tribal setup and the position matter while the party affiliation has low weightage in the semi-tribal society of Dera Ghazi Khan district. There is a change in the squad of Owais Leghari who came forward for PP-246 with Mehmood Qadir Leghari who is a popular figure with respect to his worth and credibility while for PP-242 his wing remains unchanged in terms of Sardar Javeed.
Once the political scenario was under the strong speculations that Javeed Lound was likely to quit Leghari group with two options in his pocket either to join the PPP or the PML.N but the Legharis succeeded to woo him. The local observers believe that as a part of un announced strategy, Khosa Group including PML.N candidate from PP-242 may support PPP candidate Saifuddin Khosa for NA-173 and it will be another minus point for owais Khan Leghari, adding that there would be a tough contest among the two strong candidates.