The PPP’s dilemma

Will its policy of reconciliation bear any fruit?

With the PTI and PAT attracting youth with the slogan of change, many in the PPP leadership in Punjab wanted Asif Zardari to come out openly against the PML-N government. The Co-Chairman has refused to oblige them. He argues that the PTI and PAT use the slogan of change to spread anarchy and derail the system. According to him while the immediate threat posed by the two parties has somewhat receded, democracy still remains in danger. There is a need under the circumstances to continue the policy of reconciliation with the PML-N.

The rising dissatisfaction with the PML-N is not without reason. Partly it is the outcome of the PML-N leaders’ own rhetoric and false promises made when in the opposition to discredit the PPP government, like ending power shortages in a couple of years and putting the economy on rails in no time by bringing back the “looted wealth”. Another cause of dissatisfaction is the arrogant style of PML-N leadership, its indecisiveness and failure to give priority to the resolution of common man’s problems.

Zardari must have realised the frustration among the Punjab PPP leadership that lost all National Assembly constituencies of the province except one in 2013 elections. Many in the party think that PPP’s support for the PML-N would further weaken its position during the next elections. Zardari has tried to convince them that unpopular decisions have sometimes to be taken in larger interests. The party faces an uphill task in Punjab. Unlike Sindh, the charisma of the martyred leaders alone cannot salvage the party. While the PTI and PAT leaderships have yet to work out concretely what change they want, the word ‘change’ has an emotive value for the young voters fed up with the status quo. Keeping the PPP united in Punjab is one challenge for Zardari, to make it a force capable of winning a respectable number of seats in general elections is another. It remains to be seen how the Co-Chairman achieves the two goals.