LAHORE           -         Playing his last card with extreme caution, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan Saturday announced to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KPK on December 23, thereby giving five more days to the PDM alliance to reconsider its stance on holding the snap polls as desired by his party. Flanked by grimfaced chief ministers of the two provinces-Ch Parvez Elahi and Mahmood Khan- the PTI chief made this announcement while addressing a big public rally through video link at Lahore’s Liberty roundabout where the second line party leadership enlivened the crowd by fiery speeches and sloganeering for quite some time in his absence. Imran Khan thanked the two provincial chief ministers for their cooperation who gave him their consent to dissolve the assemblies. He said he had consulted senior lawyers of the party before this move, and they had given their expert opinion that the Constitution did not allow the elections to be delayed beyond 90 days of an assembly’s dissolution. Along with giving a precise date for the dissolution of the provincial assemblies, Imran Khan also announced to go to the National Assembly with the demand for acceptance of resignations of the remaining party legislators who had resigned enmasse in April this year. “We will go to the National Assembly and ask the NA speaker to accept our resignations instead of picking a few,” he said.About the PTI’s plan of action after dissolution of the assemblies, Imran Khan said that the party would prepare for elections and teach a lesson to PDM parties by inflicting such a defeat that the names of these thieves are wiped out forever. Imran Khan said he had sacrificed the two assemblies for the country. Earlier, at the outset of his address to the party workers, Imran Khan censured the federal government holding it responsible for the current economic situation and reiterated his demand for early elections. The PTI chairman also expressed his suspicion that the government might not hold general elections even in October 2023. He feared that the Election Commission in connivance with the government will come up with excuses and ways about delaying the elections. In an indirect reference to the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, the PTI leader alleged that a very dishonest person was conniving with the government who might find excuses to postpone the elections. “But it would be against the Constitution to delay the elections beyond 90 days”, he said, adding that he had spoken to his lawyers in this regard. What can happen in the coming five days? Meanwhile, the announcement by the PTI chairman to delay the dissolution of the provincial assemblies by five days has left many to think about the real motives behind this move, also raising several questions. What does the PTI want to achieve in these five days? Is the PTI still hopeful of resumption of the backdoor negotiations with the government? Is it expecting some ‘intervention’ to force the government to hold snap polls? What options does the government have in the wake of this development? These are the questions needing answers in the next few days. In its initial reaction to the PTI’s move, the PML-N leadership seems indecisive about their strategy. Given the statements of the PML-N leaders, it is evident that some party leaders are in favor of exercising the constitutional options to prevent dissolution of the Punjab Assembly while others want to go straight into the elections. In the given situation, the Opposition in Punjab Assembly led by the PML-N can file a no-trust motion against the chief minister a day before the anticipated dissolution of the assembly. But it can only delay the dissolution by three to seven days through this move. It is because the PML-N and the PPP don’t have the numbers to pass a no-confidence motion against the chief minister. They cannot rely on defectors from the PTI as their votes will not be counted in the light of a Supreme Court decision. The second option which is viable is that the Punjab governor asks the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly. In this case, the onus will be on the PTI and the PMLQ to show majority in the house. In such a scenario, the PML-N and the PPP have some room to play politically by inducing around half a dozen PTI MPAs to absent themselves on the day of voting under any pretext. If this can happen, the PML-N can get its chief minister elected in the run-off election despite not having a simple majority in the House. If the move is successful, the PTI MPAs will not lose their assembly membership, but they will surely be deprived of a PTI ticket in any future elections. But it is easier said than done. Commenting on the PTI’s decision to dissolve the assemblies, Interior Minister Rana Sana Ullah said that opinion was divided in the PML-N about what should be the party strategy in the given situation. Talking to a news channel, the federal minister said that the PML-N’s parliamentary party wanted to use the constitutional options to save the Punjab Assembly, but personally he was in favor of going into the elections for the provincial assemblies. He said a final decision in this regard will be taken by party Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif. Also, the PML-N and the PPP legislators on Friday signed a no-trust motion against the Punjab Chief Minister Ch Parvez Elahi even before announcement of the assemblies’ dissolution by the PTI chief. The PML-N MPA Rana Mashhood Friday said that they would file the motion on Monday. Earlier in the day, PTI Chairman Imran Khan held a consultative meeting with party leaders at Zaman Park regarding the dissolution of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies. Punjab Chief Minister Ch Parvez and his KPK counterpart Mahmood Khan attended the meeting besides senior PTI leadership including Vice President Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Parvez Khattak, Shibli Faraz, Ali Amin Gandapur and others.