ISLAMABAD - Major opposition party PML-N has opted for the upcoming Senate elections after deep thinking by the party leadership largely because of the PTI's landmark public meeting in Lahore, sources said on Wednesday.
The political sources told TheNation that PML-N had reluctantly agreed to participate in the Senate elections scheduled for March 2 after deep thinking that it would not be in a position to secure the same number seats it can do in the given situation.
The sources said that the PML-N's top leadership did not want the ruling PPP secure the largest number of seats in the Senate elections but opted to go for it with the consideration that it would emerge as the second largest party in the Upper House thus giving it a special advantage to claim the slot of opposition leader. This realization in the party came after PTI succeeded to establish that it was one of the three major political players by staging mammoth public meetings especially in the Punjab province the so-called stronghold of the PML-N.
They were of the view that emergence of PTI could cause critical damage to the PML-N during the next general elections, therefore, the top party leadership decided not to miss the crucial Senate elections.
Although the PML-N sources dismissed these notions, informed the sources insisted that this was the reason why the PML-N leadership abandoned its publicly declared option to resign from Punjab as well as the National assemblies to press the PPP-led ruling coalition to go for general elections instead of the Senate elections.
The sources believed that PML-N, which from the outset has been playing the role of a friendly opposition in the National Assembly, had actually missed the bus to reach the power corridor by winning more seats against the PPP in the next general elections.
"This will not be possible any more for the PML-N largely because of the PTI factor," the sources said, adding in the emerging political scene PML-N's position would not be more than a sandwich between PTI and the PPP and its allied parties.
Some of the sources even predicted that PML-N would not be able to secure even number of seats that would help it retain the role of opposition in the next National Assembly what to say about its prospects to single handedly form its government in Punjab in the wake of the next general elections.