ISLAMABAD - Former president Asif Ali Zardari is spreading his political chessboard before the general elections as he manipulates in the Punjab and Balochistan provinces.

Political sources told The Nation that the Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman was in the hunt to win over the elected members of the assemblies who can get a PPP ticket in this year’s elections to help the party get more seats.

A senior PPP leader claimed that several sitting members of the Punjab and the Balochistan assemblies – belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and other parties – were in contact with Zardari to switch loyalties.

“Some cabinet members of the Balochistan government are in contact with the PPP. They are inclined to join the PPP before the polls,” he maintained.

The PPP leader said Zardari would launch a series of meetings with the like-minded parties and politicians to finalise strategy for the general elections.

Days earlier, Zardari said the PPP had played a role to bring PML-Q’s Abdul Quddus Bizenjo as the new chief minister of Balochistan.

Sources said Bizenjo would soon meet Zardari to thank him for the support although the PPP did not have a member in the provincial assembly.

In the 2013 polls, the PPP lost heavily and the low-popularity ratings continued until 2017.

The party however, is once again looking to make a comeback in the Punjab with a few encouraging rallies in the populous province, – that decides who rules the country in every general elections.

Apart from rallies, the PPP is also expecting some electables to join the party to win some share of the National Assembly seats that could put them in the race to form the government in the centre.

Leaders such as Faisal Saleh Hayat are no longer seen with respect in the party for their “betrayals” but the PPP leadership is obliged to welcome them back under the “doctrine of necessity”.

The PPP is optimistic that more influential politicians – annoyed with the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf – could join the party.

PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari believes even 30 National Assembly seats from the 140-plus on offer in the Punjab could give the party a realistic chance to lead a coalition government in the centre.

PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari however, has higher expectations and insists on even forming provincial government.

Bilawal’s optimism stems from successful rallies in various cities, which he claims have mobilised the party workers.

Years after the 2013 polls - which the PPP dubbed as “Returning Officers’ elections” – the party inconclusively considered seat adjustment with rivals, the PML-N and the PTI in the Punjab.

Punjab was once a stronghold of the PPP during the peak of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but it slowly drifted away to the right-wing or pro-right parties.

The ruling PML-N has been firmly in control of the province over the recent past.

The province, with a bigger population than all the other provinces combined, is effectively the “king-maker” with scores of the National Assembly seats on offer.

Even in the last elections, the PML-N came to power riding on the popularity wave in Punjab.

In other provinces, its performance was insignificant.

The PPP did so badly in Punjab that commentators called it a “pressure group” instead of a national party.

The party was also nowhere in the contest in the Local Governments’ polls held in Islamabad and the provinces in 2015 except Sindh.

The PML-N was riding high before the Panama leaks scandal but the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif and the National Accountability Bureau’s resolve to prove the Sharif family’s corruption has given a ray of hope to the PPP in the Punjab.

As things stand in the province, the PPP, the PML-N and the PTI will contest the 2018 elections as the three main parties with the PML-N still in an advantageous position followed by the PTI.

The three main parties and the smaller parties have launched their election campaigns and are holding rallies across the country.

The PPP Secretary-General, Nayyar Bokhari, said the PPP was confident to improve in the Punjab.

“We do not give importance to the last general elections. They were massively rigged. We called them ROs elections as the PML-N won with the help of the ROs. I am saying again we will win if the elections are fair,” he added.

Bokhari, a former Senate chairman, said so many people were expected to join the PPP after the elections were announced.

“The voters are attracted to us in [the] Punjab since Bilawal started addressing the rallies. Electables will also join hands when elections are announced,” he maintained.

“We will even have our share in central Punjab. There has been a good response in the south Punjab too,” the PPP leader said.

PPP central Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira said the party was not wooing the electable as “they would themselves join the PPP” due to its growing popularity.

“If we speak of today, we are not in an ideal situation in the urban Punjab but as we go into the elections, things are changing. We are optimistic about the elections,” he said.

Kaira said Bilawal had addressed some successful rallies, which had mobilised workers.

“The people have started to look towards the PPP. They are fed up with the PML-N and the PTI,” he remarked.

He said the PPP would stick to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s policy and would try to win votes on its own rather than setting sights on the feudals and the wealthy politicians.

The PPP South Punjab Secretary-General, Natasha Daultana, said the “massive rallies” addressed by Bilawal in the recent weeks spoke about the popularity of the party.

“We had a good rally in Faisalabad, Multan and Islamabad. With the experience of Zardari and the inspiration of Bilawal, we will defeat the rivals,” she contended.

The PPP leader alleged that the PML-N government had done nothing for the people, while the PTI was raising hollow slogans.

 

Shafqat Ali