Pipe dreaming leadership weakens PPP
While Bilawal Bhutto continues to dream about PPP sweeping the next elections the party faces a meltdown in Punjab, the key province that provides access to power at the centre. A number of provincial leaders, some like Ghazanfar Gul with 30 year-long partnership, have left the party during the last two years. This year too, there were several notable defections: former PPP MNA Murtaza Satti and two former federal ministers Firdous Ashiq Awan and Nawaz Gondal. Gul resigned in protest against what he called the “corporate culture” introduced by Zardari. The others claimed Zardari had abandoned Punjab to the PML-N. The party had lost the activism which used to be its hallmark. The defectors claimed that the leadership failed to stand by them when they were persecuted by the PML-N. Being politicians, they felt it was harmful for their careers to continue to be associated with a politically inactive party. All except Gul joined the PTI.
Soon after losing elections Zardari assured Nawaz Sharif he would adopt a policy of reconciliation with the PML-N government. The PPP would support Nawaz administration for five years, he said, and start politics only when the next elections are announced. Zardari hoped that good relations with the PML-N government would put an end to calls for accountability besides a free hand to the PPP in Sindh. What is more, after 2018 elections the policy of reconciliation would help PPP get a share in any coalition that ruled the country.
With Zardari agreeing to play second a fiddle to the PMLN, the PPP activists initially looked up to Bilawal Bhutto to challenge the PMLN government. They soon discovered that Bilawal lacked the capacity to take an independent stand. This thoroughly demoralized the Punjab party rank and file. The jiyalas lost interest in the PPP while those keen to contest elections joined the PTI which has an active leadership and a youthful and enthusiastic following. There are signs that tell there will be further defections from the PPP. It is unfortunate that what was a countrywide party has been turned practically into a party of rural Sindh alone.
