In order to keep its house in order and check defections from the party in the coming days, the PML-Q leadership has decided to make it clear to party ranks that no electoral understanding had been reached with the PPP so far that many leaguers find it against their constituency politics, making them easy pickings for other political forces, including the PTI and PML-N, that are out to woo them.
Party sources said the Chaudhrys had planned a series of party meetings starting with Rawalpindi division (on Thursday) to dispel the impression and address concerns of party leaders on the very nature of their understanding with PPP for the coming election.
After joining the PPP–led government, some PML-Q leaders gave wrong signals to the party when they shared with the media an exaggerated account of a deal between the PPP and PML-Q, as if some formal seat-to-seat adjustment between the two parties had been finalised.
According to their version, the two parties would not challenge each other’s candidates in the coming election, implying that if a constituency was manned by the PPP, the PML-Q would not field its candidate. But more damaging was the clause according to which the constituency where both parties failed, the runner up will get the ticket, if he/she was from the PPPP or PML-Q.
Party leaders, especially the ones interested in contesting future elections, found themselves pretty irrelevant in the new arrangement. With no future in the PML-Q, they became soft targets for other political parties interested to expand their electoral base or in the need of more electable candidates.
For example in Lahore, most of the seats were won by the PML-N in previous polls, with the PPP coming in second.
As such, PML-Q leaders from Lahore such as Aleem Khan must be weighing their options outside the fold of the PML-Q. Recently former NA speaker Chuadhry Ameer Hussain hinted at joining the PTI. With the same understanding, he had no chance of getting ticket from the PML-Q, as PPP leader Firdous Ashiq Awan had returned winner from that constituency in the last election.
With the emergence of Imran Khan as a real political force, the PML-Q members have already become vulnerable to outside influence that includes the PTI and the PML-N.
Both parties are out to woo anybody with some political credentials. Some PML-Q members have crossed the fence while others are weighing their options per reports. This trend is worrying for the Chaudhrys.
Meanwhile, to mitigate the concerns of party leaders, the Chaudhrys have decided to contact party leaders across Punjab. On Thursday, they would meet leaders from Rawalpindi division, including MNAs, MPAs and former ticket-holders. In these meetings, the Chaydhrys would be telling party leaders to take it easy, as no seat adjustment had been finalised with the PPP. The party leadership, witnessing a re-alignment of political forces through these contacts, would firm up its future political strategy. At the moment, their primary concern is to keep the party intact and protect it against possible defections.
