The reconciliatory and obliging policy of the Chaudhrys has started bearing fruit, as 12 dissidents of the PML-Q are likely to attend the party’s parliamentary meeting scheduled on May 12.
Pakistan Today learnt on Monday that after attracting members of the Likeminded group in the National Assembly, top PML-Q leaders had also succeeded in creating fissures in the Unification Bloc. Sources said 12 of the 46 PML-Q dissidents have established contacts with the Chaudhrys and assured the leadership that they would return to their parent party.
Sources in the PML-Q said the 12 bloc members who met the Chaudhrys included Rai Ijaz Hussain, Zafar Zulqarnain Sahi, Arshad Jatt, Ayehsa Javed and Joyce Rufin Julius, and they confirmed their presence in the meeting. The Unification Bloc MPs have reportedly been upset over the PML-N’s attitude, as it had completely ignored their “sacrifices”.
The bloc that energised the crumbling Shahbaz Sharif government with a pledge to support it at the cost of their memberships had decided to return to the PML-Q, which was offering them lucrative incentives with “an open heart”. The PML-Q has 81 of the 371 seats in the Punjab Assembly and of the 81 members, 46 formed the Unification Bloc after developing differences with the PML-Q leadership.
But with the party’s entry into the federal cabinet, the situation had changed and the Unification Bloc wants to return to its former party with some sureties, the sources added. Lamenting over the situation, Unification Bloc leader Atta Maneka told Pakistan Today that as the parliamentary leader of the group, it was Dr Tahir Ali Javed’s duty to keep the bloc intact, adding that he had been in the US and no other leader within the bloc was taking the initiative to bind the members.
Maneka said Ahmed Hassan of the PML-N, who had been tasked by Shahbaz to remain in constant contact with the Unification Bloc, had failed to be vigilant enough. He said that the Election Commission’s hearing on the disqualification references against them on May 25 would decide the future course of action, because if he and eight other bloc members were disqualified, the PML-Q would use the decision as a pressure tactic against the remaining strength of the group.
