The politics of deadlines and n-point agendas is flawed and played out for longer than it should be. But it has to be admitted that the PPP Punjab wings 19-point agenda to the PML(N) is a spot of fun. Taking a leaf out of the Leagues book, the PPP has not only indulged in some unrealistic populism of its own (ensure the minimum wage or else!, Give provincial ministers 10 marla houses and give the rest to poor government servants or else!) but it has also demanded the ouster of corrupt officials in the Punjab government, a point amongst the 19 that identically mirrors one of the ten in the PML(N)s points to the PPP at the centre. No pressures, senior Punjab minister Raja Riaz says to the provincial government, but if the 19 points are not heeded to, we could explore other options, including the people.
Gloating PML(N) politicians might point out that even the PPPs own central leadership does not endorse the 19-point agenda but the League still got a bit of what it was serving to the PPP. The Punjab governments refusal to take ownership of anything of the lapses of governance in the province on account of not being on the treasury benches in the centre cannot last for long. Furthermore, some of the 19 points, like the Chief Ministers refusal to entertain the PPP ministers would be the private gripes of PML(N) ministers and legislators themselves. The CMs empowerment of the provincial bureaucracy against even his own MPAs is something to be rectified.
At the end of the day, Raja Riazs agenda is an exercise in me-too politics. It is, like the Leagues deadlines, immature. Instead of letting political debate fall to the level of playground squabbles, the PPPs Punjab cadre could try emulating the way Prime Minister Yousuf Gillani is dealing with the Leagues ultimata in Islamabad: dont want the RGST? Suggest an alternative then. Dont want to phase out subsidies? Suggest how to keep them without enlarging the deficit.
