Following intense infighting among rival groups from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Lahore, all vying to influence selection of electoral candidates from the city, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has indefinitely postponed meeting of the newly formed central parliamentary board and declared that he would himself decide the fate of all applicants seeking party tickets from Lahore, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Source said Nawaz was dismayed by the internal wrangling in the party’s Lahore chapter and cancelled the board meeting due on Friday. They added that the PML-N chief spent the whole day in Raiwind on Friday, meeting only select leaders and keeping aspirants under suspense.
A promising candidate from Lahore told Pakistan Today that except the Sharifs, no one is sure of getting a ticket this time around. Sources said Nawaz will most likely contest from NA-120 while Shahbaz or Hamza seemed interested in NA-119.
There are several groups, all from Lahore, working at cross-purposes, ready to go to any extent against each other including lodging of cases. In Lahore, PML-N seems to have been hit not only by internal squabbling among rival groups, but protests to grab attention of the leadership before ticket distribution had also been witnessed.
In the previous elections Khwaja Saad Rafique was the main player in Lahore and was instrumental in getting tickets for several party workers from the city. His group is still the strongest in Lahore, not ready to ease their hold over the city. However, Nawaz seems fully prepared to break the hold of these groups and get a message across to signal that he is the ultimate leader in the party. Other groups are led by Pervez Rasheed while Hamza Sharif too has nurtured his own group.
Bloody clashes erupted a couple of days ago when Nawaz Sharif was presiding over the meeting of the parliamentary board to decide the fate of applicants from Lahore. Party workers staged protest against former Punjab Assembly deputy speaker Rana Mashood and former MNA Ayaz Sadiq.
Sources added the PML-N is still ready to share some seats with Jamat-e-Islami (JI) but the JI has not shown a very positive response. The JI has demanded five seats from Lahore, according to sources.
One candidate talking to Pakistan Today on condition on anonymity expressed dissatisfaction over the entire selection process. “The applicants were at the mercy of a local board constituted by Nawaz. Its members were mostly from Lahore with vested interests. Later, Nawaz formed a central board after these protests that comprised senior party leaders including Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, Raja Zafarul Haq, Mushahidullah, Ishaq Dar and Shahbaz Sharif, against the wishes of the contending groups,” he said. This board, he added, never got time to contribute much in the selection process. Meanwhile, all eyes in the PML-N are set on Raiwind as announcement of tickets is expected at anytime.
Nawaz to decide on PML-N tickets in Lahore
