With his focus glued to the office of prime minister of Pakistan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman has failed to evolve a contingency plan, reflecting that the party would not only prefer to sit on the opposition benches in case it could not muster the required strength to form government but also that it has no plan to clinch the slot of Punjab chief minister – a prime slot which is considered a key to winning the premier’s slot.
Punjab, being the biggest province of the country by all means, holds the key for formation of the federal government as out of the 272 National Assembly (NA) constituencies, 148 fall under Punjab, and whoever grabs majority seats in Punjab becomes a strong contender for prime minister’s slot.
However, despite enjoying support of seasoned politicians like Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Javed Hashmi, Jahangir Tareen and others, no experienced politician has been fielded for any Punjab Assembly constituency who could use his political clout to win over independent winning candidates or who could go for forming a coalition government if the party wins simple majority in Punjab.
Interestingly, out of 294 contenders for Punjab Assembly constituencies, the PTI’s candidates are mostly new faces, who would be banking on Imran Khan’s popularity to reach the assembly. Out of the total 294 candidates, only five are somewhat experienced. Former MNA from Sahiwal, Rai Hassan Nawaz is contesting on PP-225, while former MNA Maimoona Hashmi, daughter of PTI President Javed Hashmi, is a contender for PP-202 Multan. Former food minister Sibtain Khan is trying his luck for PP-46 Mianwali while former state minister Rao Nasim Hashmi is contesting for PP-227 Pakpattan.
KHATTAK ADMITS LACK OF PLANNING:
PTI secretary-general Pervez Khattak, when contacted, admitted that the party had not evolved any strategy to face a challenging situation in Punjab, stating that the PTI stood for a thorough change in political culture.
“We will only form government in Punjab if the people will give us the mandate. If we don’t win majority, we will not form the government as we are not power hungry,” he said.
Khattak added if a novice like Haider Khan Hoti could successfully run the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), anyone could do so in Punjab.
“The party may ask anyone to form the government if we win a majority. We are ready for any situation but we don’t believe in political maneuvering to form the government. We stand for change and if voted by people, we will form the government,” he asserted.
The PTI presented a total of 519 cardholders for the provincial seats against 577 constituencies. Thus, there are no PTI contestants for 58 provincial seats. Imran Khan’s interest in Punjab is evident from the fact that the PTI fielded 142 representatives for the National Assembly constituencies against a total of 148 seats.
PUNJAB- THE BATTLEFIELD FOR THE THRONE:
Nawaz Sharif and his party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), over the past three decades, have successfully used the slot of Punjab chief minister to grab the throne. In 1988, when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won majority in the NA, Nawaz Sharif used the slogan of “Jaag Punjabi Jaag” and remained successful in winning majority seats in Punjab Assembly. Later, he became chief minister of Punjab and adopted a hostile approach towards the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto and finally got her government dissolved in connivance with the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
Eventually, Nawaz Sharif became prime minister after winning the 1990 polls under the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) banner. Again, in 1993, when Benazir Bhutto won polls and became premier, Nawaz was the Punjab chief minister and made life difficult for her. In 1997, Nawaz captured the slot of prime minister for the second time.
After General Musharraf’s Pakistan Muslim Leaague-Quaid (PML-Q) was jointly defeated by PPP and PML-N, Shahbaz Sharif became Punjab’s CM in 2008 while PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gilani became prime minister. Nawaz Sharif is once again eyeing the slot of prime minister, for a record third term, but faces a strong challenge from Imran Khan.
