- Can he do the Houdini act?
As president of the PML-N Shahbaz Sharif has to ensure that the party remains united and comes out victorious in the forthcoming elections. The major threat the party currently faces is its permanent Quaid’s posture vis-a-vis the military establishment and the courts. Soon after the SC-appointed JIT started questioning the Sharif family, the former PM concluded that the charges being framed against him could not be successfully defended in the courts. While he hired some of the best lawyers in the country the perception got strengthened with the passage of time. After his disqualification by the SC, Nawaz Sharif decided to fight the charges politically. During the road march from Islamabad to Lahore, he accused the establishment and the courts of penalising him on account of grudge against him. The narrative which he presented before the public meetings was flawed but it seems to have worked
The PML-N lawmakers have never been on the wrong side of the establishment. Some are now complaining that they are receiving threatening phone calls. They have approached both PM Abbasi and Shahbaz Sharif, reportedly asking them to advise the party’s Quaid to stop his anti-establishment rhetoric. The large attendance at the rallies addressed by Nawaz Sharif indicates his ability to sell his narrative. Many who would have parted company with PML-N are afraid to do so because of what they consider Nawaz ’s rising popularity graph. Nawaz who rides the tiger knows the consequences of getting down from it. After the CEC meeting in Islamabad where the party debated its strategy, Sharif was less strident at his Multan power show. The question is whether he can keep himself under control for a long time.
Shahbaz resorted to a riddle when asked by media what Nawaz meant by aliens in politics. Neither are there any aliens, he replied, nor are we afraid of any. It remains to be seen if Shahbaz Sharif possesses the political acumen to solve the conundrum: Nawaz is badly needed in the elections because he is a crowd puller, but Nawaz in the driving seat could cause a crash.
