Why the Chaudhrys have cut their sails!

Election Diary: Q’s prospects

For the PML-Q’s Chaudhrys of Gujrat, this is a crucial election as their political future is on the line on May 11. But surprisingly they are keeping their cool, perhaps amused at the PTI and the PML-N going after each other in the run-up to the elections.

Even with the PPP, they did not make an issue when it poached some of the ‘Q’ electables. Nor did they cry foul when otherwise their former coalition partner could not stop some of its party men from confronting theirs in the elections. Especially in Gujrat where PPP’s heavyweight Ahmad Mukhtar is ready to challenge Ch Pervaiz Elahi, even if one does not take into account the other contests in which the PPP and ‘Q’ are face to face. Such incidents have rendered the ‘cooperation’ between the PPP and ‘Q’ in over 200 national and provincial assembly constituencies. Despite such provocation, the Chaudhrys keep their cool, focusing on the post-election scenario to regain their relevance.

Despite this being a make or break election for the Chaudhrys, why are they calm? Perhaps because compared to other they have very little to lose. That explains the lack of extra effort that other parties are throwing up to sneak in a few more seats. The Like-minded group and the Unification group may have wanted to join the Chaudhrys bandwagon after being discarded by the ‘N’, but the former did not show any enthusiasm to get them back and enhance the possibility of their numbers.

The Chaudhrys do not have stakes similar to the PML-N or the PTI; both these parties have ambitions of forming governments. The Chaudhrys are not in that league, hence the laidback attitude.

The Chaudhrys have a minimum agenda, and this revolves around staying relevant in national politics, helping others form the government through lending support. To this end, they would be content to score on 10 to 15 National Assembly seats, while topping it up will be a windfall. It is entirely a different matter that Ch Shujaat is hoping to clinch more seats from the Punjab than the PPP.

The political analysts say that if the Chaudhrys have 15-plus seats under their belt, they would be a force to reckon with not just in the post-election scenario, but also in the mid-term future.

With a new amendment in place, it will not be possible for the MNAs to change loyalty as they did in the past when the Chaudhrys struggled to keep their flock intact. The first setback was when the Like-minded departed and then an even bigger blow was dealt when 40-plus of their MPAs formed a forward block, joining the PML-N on the treasury bench.

The Chaudhrys may have cut down their sails, but the game plan is to manage the party over the next five years and then if opportunity beckons again, to aim for greater things.