ISLAMABAD   -  Pakistan People’s Party is ready for one-point cooperation with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) to remove the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf-led government, close aide of the PPP leadership said. Two aides of PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari told The Nation yesterday that the PPP wanted a joint opposition effort against the government without compromising on its identity. “Bilawal Bhutto is ready for cooperation and he has several times expressed his intentions. This of course will not be an election alliance but issue-to-issue cooperation,” said one PPP leader.

Another senior PPP leader said Asif Ali Zardari was also not against joining hands with the PML-N against the government. “To be honest, the PPP and the PML-N need each other for any move to remove the government constitutionally. We are ready for cooperation at least on this point. There have been positive contacts (between the two parties) recently,” he added.

The PPP and the PML-N together fall short of the magical number of 172 in the National Assembly by a good margin. Even some smaller parties’ support took them to 150 in the mini-budget session. The two parties will need to woo a politically influential party like the PML (Quaid-e-Azam), support from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and backing of the smaller groups to achieve the goal.

Zardari has been in good terms with the Baloch nationalists and he also enjoys a positive relationship with the Chaudhrys of Gujrat.

The PPP has 56 seats in the National Assembly and the PML-N has 86. The PML-Q has five seats, the MQM-P has seven seats, there are four independents, the religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal has 15 seats. In addition the Balochistan National Party has four seats and the Balochistan Awami Party has 5 seats. The Awami National Party only has one seat.

Among the influential groups, who are supporting the government are the PML-Q, the MQM and the BAP who can give 17 members support if they agree to back the opposition’s possible no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The PPP and the PML-N are also banking on some dissidents of the PTI, who they think might vote against the PM. These parties or the so-called dissidents have so far not openly given any assurance to the opposition. However, the opposition is likely to work for a couple of months on the soft targets before moving against the PM in the parliament.