‘Yes PTI is against PML-N but you got it all wrong!’

In a dramatic political summersault just a day after holding a joint press conference with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed out of the announced strategy of fielding a combined candidate for the upcoming local body elections against the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N).
Interestingly, just a day after the meeting with the PPP, the PTI declared any type of alliance with the former at any level, ‘out of question’.
A policy statement issued by PTI Spokeswomen Dr Shirin Mazari blamed the media for giving a wrong colour to the meeting of the PTI, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the PPP’s provincial leadership at Manzoor Wattoo’s residence on Tuesday. She claimed that the meeting was wrongly painted and its only purpose was to devise a joint strategy in Punjab against the undemocratic Local Government Bill (LGB). She added that cooperation with the PPP would be restricted only to the LGB issue.
On Tuesday, PPP Central Leader Mian Manzoor Watto held a joint-press conference with PTI Punjab President Ijaz Chaudhry in which they announced that they would field joint candidates against thr ruling PML-N in the provincial local body elections.
PTI sources said that the press conference and the general reaction over the PPP-PTI nexus compelled PTI high-ups to think about the party’s stance and decided that such a pact would ultimately reduce the PTI’s penetration among masses, as the PTI was ideologically considered an anti-PPP political force.
In contrast, this political twist of the PTI reflects its infancy and the lack of working relationship within PTI circles. Being the main oppositional political party in both the national and provincial assemblies, PTI voters expect a lot more from their leaders.