PTI and PPP together can give PML-N a tough time
Making an alliance with the PTI would have posed no problem for an uninhibited PPP which has over the years struck temporary and long terms alliances with a disparate group of political parties having altogether different orientations. For a sanctimonious PTI, however, engagement with the PPP, whose leaders have been declared by Imran Khan as most corrupt of the corrupt, must have been no less than drinking from the poisoned chalice. The two parties are reportedly in talks over alliance which would initially jointly oppose the Rs40 billion taxes recently imposed through a supplementary budget.
The PTI is learning the ropes. So far the party has not gone beyond fraternising with PAT and JI, both cadre parties with limited vision and outreach. On their own, the PPP and PTI can cut no ice with the PML-N government. However, with the second largest and the third largest party jointly taking up issues in the National Assembly, it would be hard to ignore them. Over time the combination can turn into a larger opposition alliance capable of resisting any possible intransigence by the party in power or attempts by those waiting in the wings at sabotaging the system.
An alliance with the PPP would have a salutary effect on the PTI’s working style. It would encourage the party to concentrate on crucial legislative work while reining in the tendency in the PTI chief to fly off on a tangent every now and then. Whatever Imran Khan might say, most of the PTI leadership comprises middle class conservatives used to working within the system rather than leading the mobs to scuffles with the police or joining the sit-ins for weeks and months under the open sky. The inclination shown by the PTI to work together with the rest of the Opposition is indicative of pressure building up from within the party against the politics of agitation and in favour of bringing about changes in line with the constitutional framework.
