Obaid Abbasi
Even though former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is making desperately frustrated attempts to make inroads in Punjab, he is not likely to succeed in countering the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) due to the absence of winning horses for PPP.
Asif Ali Zardari has been active in Punjab since last one month and holding meetings with local party leadership and youth so party’s politics could be revived before the next general election, which is scheduled in 2018.
However, political pundits believe that PPP will not able to win seats from the country’s biggest province which remained a stronghold of PML-N. Even big party’s names which include former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, Shaukat Mahmood Basra, Qasim Zia, Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, and Nazar Muhammad Gondal.
Dr Hassan Askari Rizvi, a political analyst, believes that PPP cannot regain its popularity in Punjab unless the party announces a major socio-economic programme for the people of Punjab, which should be different from PML-N. “So far, PPP does not have any alternate social and economic agenda, especially in Punjab, which could help the party to win a few seats,” said Rizvi, adding that the genuine opposition role has been transferred from PPP to PTI, which may give tough time to PML-N in 2018.
Rizvi said if PPP wants to win Punjab, it should remove the impression that PPP and PML-N were playing friendly opposition. “Asif Ali Zardari can’t do public politics; his recent gathering in Punjab will not affect PML-N,” he concluded.
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) former secretary Kanwar Dilshad had a similar view, saying that Zardari’s presence in Punjab is only ‘symbolic’ and the party will never win in Punjab. “The actual contest in Punjab will be between PML-N and PTI,” said Dilshad.
PPP Punjab Secretary Information Mustafa Nawaz Kokhar, however, claimed PPP would be able to secure seats from South Punjab as Asif Ali Zardari will continue to focus in whole Punjab. According to Kokhar, in the next few months, Zardari will hold further meetings in Lahore.
When told PML-N remained a stronghold and how would it be easy for PPP to win seats, Kokhar said that a grand opposition will also help to defeat PML-N as the party is already in touch with the leadership of PML-Q, PTI, JI and other smaller parties. “After Panama Leak’s decision, the situation will be different in Punjab, and PPP will take advantage of that,” he remarked.
