Is it the beginning of the end?
The PPP has fallen on bad days in Punjab. Asif Zardari’s peculiar policy of reconciliation demoralised many jiyalas who either left the party or were elbowed out of it. On Sunday, PPP Okara District President Ashraf Sohna also decided to resign. The PPP has already seen the result of relying on pedigreed but unpopular politicians who were given PPP tickets but licked the dust in 2013 elections. Even after the elections the party decided to continue to depend on them.
This has provided further impetus to factionalism in the party. In December last Zardari failed to silence sloganeering for and against rival factional leaders as he presided over the PPP’s 47th foundation day at Bilawal House Lahore. Even the threat of denying party tickets to troublemakers failed to put an end to rivalries. Zardari had earlier promised to stay in Punjab to organise the party. He soon discovered that this was not his cup of tea. Some in the Punjab PPP thought Bilawal could put new life in the party. The differences between the father and the son however led to Bilawal’s departure for London.
The PPP is a mainstream party with roots in all the four provinces besides AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. In 2013 elections it fared badly all over Pakistan with the exception of Sindh. The Party however managed to acquire the positions of Chairman Senate and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly. The PPP can ignore Punjab at great risk to its mainstream character. In case the PPP fails to put its act together in the province it might become confined to Sindh after the next elections. PPP South Punjab President Ahmed Mahmood hopes to collect opposition parties against the PML-N during the LG elections due in September. Pipe-dreaming of the sort has to give place to a more realistic appraisal and a new policy that connects with the masses. Continuous reliance on dynastic politics would be the undoing of the party in the largest province of the country.