ISLAMABAD  -  The opposition Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) is keeping the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) united as the two crucial allies struggle to agree on various issues.

The PPP and the PML-N had already started issuing statements against each other before sensing that the PTI might take advantage ahead of the November 24 rally.

The rally - which the PTI believes, will shake the government – has forced the coalition partners to demonstrate unity and try resolve their differences behind closed doors.

For the last few months, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is ‘concerned’ as the PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari keep on highlighting one issue or the other. Bilawal has also accused the PML-N of violating the promises made before th4 formation of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan.

PM Sharif has been in contact with President Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP supremo, to stop further misunderstandings and move forward with the coalition government.

Previously, the PML-N integrated several PPP proposals in the federal budget to placate the junior partner. Now again, PM Sharif is ready to listen, mainly because he would like the government to complete term and secondly he wants the PPP to stay away from the opposition parties. President Zardari has assured the PM, the PPP will remain committed to the coalition government.

Amid the political tension, the PPP is ready to hold talks with the PML-N to sort out differences within the coalition partners. This week Bilawal Bhutto Zardari formed a committee to raise the issues with the federal government led by the PML-N.

The committee comprises Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmoud, Governor Punjab Sardar Saleem Hyder, Governor Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi, and Haider Gilani. “The committee will interact with the federal government to raise the issues and will submit its report to the meeting of Central Executive Committee (CEC) to be held next month,” the PPP said in a statement.

The PPP and the PML-N agreed to form a coalition government after the February 8, 2023 elections. The PPP however, did not join the federal cabinet. The PPP backed Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, as the candidate for the Prime Minister’s office.

Sources suggest the PML-N’s soft attitude towards the PPP is aimed to defusing the pressure by the PTI to quit the government which they claim was elected through a ‘rigged’ election. The PM also directed his ministers to refrain from issuing any hostile statements or re-acting to the PPP chief’s statements to cool down the political temperature as the PTI prepares to storm Islamabad. The top PPP and PML-N leaders agree that PTI was ‘helping’ the coalition partners to remain united through its regular protest calls and demonstrations. “The two parties definitely don’t want the PTI to benefit from differences within the coalition government. The aggressive positions by the PTI are likely to see the coalition government through its five-year term despite differences on many issues,” said a senior minister.