Nisar can fit the proverbial kooza in a darya. And spill it out all wrong as well.
Yes, the man likes to talk. This Chakri alum of the Class of ‘85 can go on and on indefinitely if given the microphone.
Ask any parliamentary reporter. Whenever Nisar got the floor in the last government as leader of the opposition, you knew you were in for at least another two hours.
And that is what we got in his sprawling speech, the “most difficult” of his career, on Thursday. The long overdue speech, which was delayed once because of the man’s back ache and once because it was unseemly to talk about politics immediately in the aftermath of the terrible blast in Lahore, was eagerly awaited.
The rumour mills had been at it for weeks. Things were not well between the prime minister and his interior czar. The latter had also been estranged during another trying time, the Dharna of 2014. But this time, we were told, he is going to go through with it.
So out comes our man. Starts speaking. For a good hour-and-a-half.
First is the spiel about how long he has served his party. Then comes the shade-throwing to some of his colleagues in the cabinet, then was the rubbishing of the “rumours” that the media was spreading about him; he was absent from top party meetings because no one had invited him. And then came what the public paid the ticket for, the pièce de résistance: the announcement of the decision to quit not just his portfolio but also his constituency the day the apex court reached a decision on the Panama case.
He had framed it in a strange manner, though. But the channel broke out the breaking news graphic templates. The premier’s most trusted lieutenant was going to leave the party.
It was only till much later that the spokesperson of the interior minister told the channels that the speech had, in fact, been misinterpreted and that the minister had almost made up his mind to resign on the day of the verdict but consultation with close friends had made him change his mind.
Even with the expanded canvas of an undivided attention of one-and-a-half hours, the man still couldn’t get his point through. A terrible communicator.