Whose PM will it be?
Some of Zardari sb’s predictions sometimes betray a distressing divorce from reality. Back in the day when he was president, for example, he’d often boast about how he’d ‘leased’ Punjab to the Sharifs; and come the next election, how he’d simply take it back. But once the people had spoken in ’13 , PPP was not just routed in Punjab but also flung from the centre. And after the dry years that followed – despite a good couple of attempts to revive party fortunes, especially in Punjab, with little success – there’s the sudden promise to party workers, on Zulfiqar Bhutto’s death anniversary, of a PPP prime minister next cycle.
Surely he’s not still counting on the “sab sey yaari” novelty. That should have been dumped after the PTI snub. And since there’s no longer much warmth with old allies like JUI-F, MQM and PML-Q, it seems he’s expecting some miracle to spring from his other smart idea – deputing old party have-beens to luring prominent political families from the provinces. That, though, has run into roadblocks of its own – some would-be alliances not sitting well with some in the party, for example – so there’s only so far that lead can run.
Also, it’s not as if PPP will be allowed to try whatever it feels like with complete freedom. PTI may, for all intents and purposes, be going solo all the way to ’18, but it has built a lot more momentum than PPP and for a lot longer. And despite allegations of collusion between PML-N and PPP, developments on ground suggest a stiff rivalry. Well aware of the noise Zardari can create, and how he likes to moves the pieces across the chess board, PML-N will put the spanner in the works wherever possible – like the back and forth on the Sindh IG case.
If the PPP co-chairman has any other ideas of gaining the lead, they are unlikely to involve party performance in Sindh these last few years. Few clapped in Larkana when he said PPP had “a program for the poor masses”, with good reason. So either PPP has an ace up its sleeve or it’s selling just another pipe dream.
