ISLAMABAD: With the commencement of the election year, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leadership has decided to give a prominent role to party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
“Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has planned to visit Lahore in coming days; he also plans to visit Multan on June 8 and later he would visit other parts of the country.
He would try to boost the party’s image again by meeting party workers at the Iftar dinners,” a well-placed source in the party informed Pakistan Today requesting anonymity.
The source said that former President Asif Zardari has decided to take a backseat and Bilawal Bhutto would be given a bigger role to mobilise the party workers for the upcoming elections.
Asked whether Bilawal had been given a green signal by Asif Zardari for going all out against the PML-N government in the backdrop of the Panamagate case, the source responded in affirmative.
“Zardari recently had chaired a high-level meeting with party’s senior leaders and has given a clear policy line to the party’s senior leaders. He told the party leaders to criticise the PML-N leadership when needed,” the PPP leader said.
The PPP leader said that some of the party’s heavyweight leaders had recently left the party which had hurt the party’s image.
Over the past few months, the PPP leaders Noor Alam Khan, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Nazar Mohammad Gondal have joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) while many other “electable” from the party are also in touch with the PTI leadership.
“Many heavyweight PPP leaders in touch with the PTI’s Jahangir Khan Tareen who is spearheading the PTI’s campaign to get electable into the PTI fold. Those in touch with the PTI include senior PPP leaders from central, northern and southern Punjab who could have been vital in the next polls,” the senior PPP leader said.
The source said that Gondal’s joining of the PTI would also facilitate the departure Nadeem Afzal Chan from PPP into the PTI fold.
“Since Nadeem’s younger brother Wasim Afzal is MPA from where Gondal contests election, Wasim would sooner or later join the PTI too. It would also mean that Nadeem Afzal Gondal will also join the PTI. This is the very reason that Nadeem Afzal has quietly left for Canada as a measure to spend hibernation period before joining the PTI,” the source added.
The party stalwart said that timing in politics is very important and Asif Zardari’s unwise decision to sideline Bilawal had damaged the party’s rise.
“The party’s heavyweights have frankly told the party’s Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira that they had no hopes for the PPP due to the leadership crisis in the party. Most of the party’s bigwigs feel they have no chances to win the next election due to the party’s policy. However, they claim that they can secure their seat if they join the PTI. So joining the PTI is actually a pure pragmatism,” he added.
Asked to elaborate his viewpoint, the PPP leader said that the political big names don’t follow any specific political ideology, but pragmatism.
“They want to win their constituency by hook or by crook. So this time around, they only believe that they would like to join the popular party rather than trying to sail with the image problem of the PPP,” the PPP leader added.
When contacted, PPP Finance Secretary Haider Zaman Qureshi confirmed to Pakistan Today that the party chairman Bilawal plans to visit Lahore in a day or two.
“Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would meet the party workers at various Iftar dinners in Lahore. He also plans to visit Multan on June 8 and would meet party workers.
Later, during the holy month of Ramzan, Bilawal plans to visit all the four provinces where he would meet the party leadership and workers and would try and resolve the concerns of the party leaders,” he concluded.