PML-N’s solo flight may have its consequences

With hardly any chance of making alliances or noteworthy seat adjustment in the Punjab and elsewhere in the country, the PML-N is all set to take a solo fight in the upcoming general elections.

With the final battle-lines almost drawn between the parties and contestants having almost finalised their candidates, it seems that the PML-N is nowhere near joining hands with any other political party in the Punjab. The Unification Group’s 30-plus members supported its government throughout its five year rule, but the ‘N’ gave them short shrift. Now, the Unification group, like most other parties ranging from JI to the Like-minded, is found cursing the ‘N’ leadership for this ‘great betrayal’.

But it was actually out of its home base where ‘N’ needed partnerships gain those crucial extra seats and it did make an effort to get into alliances in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Sindh. But these efforts have all come to naught.

In Balochistan, one has reliably learnt, the PML-N’s talks with Akhtar Mengal failed to make any headway despite a desperate last-minute push from its leadership. Shahbaz Sharif personally visited Quetta last week for talks with Mengal, but failed to achieve anything tangible. Two days later, the PML-N sent another delegation, led by its information secretary Mushahidullah Khan, yet the result was ditto, as leaders at both end shied away from making any announcement with regard to the talks.

The PML-N, the sources disclose, demanded about half the share out of 11 National Assembly seats from Balochistan. That Mengal rejected. The sources further reveal that the party had reached an understanding of sorts with Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMP) chief Mahmoodchakzai on a couple of seats in the Pushtun dominated areas of the province.

Likewise in Sindh, the PML-N was banking on JI and PML-F to make some headway in the province. But despite several rounds of talks with these two, nothing came off it. The PML-F, the sources said, said nothing doing, and fielded its own candidates in all the constituencies, not sparing even Ghous Ali Shah, the senior most ‘N’ leader in Sindh.

Even the last ditch effort by Shahbaz was not very heartening for ‘N’. True to its reputation of tilting towards the right, the PML-N seemed more interested in forging an alliance with JI in and around Karachi, with the intention to cut into the MQM vote bank. But after failure of talks over seat adjustment with the JI in Punjab, the prospects of cooperation between the two in Karachi were minimal.

In KPK, the PML-N has not been seeking any cooperation with any local party so far. The PML-N leaders are not sure whether the party will be able to field candidates from all the constituencies in KPK, Balochistan and Sindh without any seat adjustment with a local or regional party. The main cause of concern for them: how this lack of political cooperation will translate at the hustings? The political analysts say, the PML-N is banking on local political forces to win some extra seats that could be useful in making alliances then to form the government at the centre. But that is only a fond hope, and the consequences may yet make ‘N’ regret its inability to stitch alliances with indigenous political forces in smaller provinces. Interestingly, the PTI, the N’s main competitor in the Punjab, is also on its own. So an interesting equation is developing between the two arch rivals. Even the PPP, apart from a soul mate in the PML-Q in the Punjab, is going to rely on its own strength.