Even though the party has officially denied that its co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has decided to make way for his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to take complete control over the party’s affairs, sources in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) say that the decision has indeed been taken following severe criticism by the party’s second tier leadership and the former president will be stepping aside in the coming days.
A party leader, on the condition of anonymity, told Pakistan Today that the leadership had agreed that withdrawing Zardari from the lead role in the party would help in controlling the damage caused by the recent crackdown against allegedly corrupt close aides of the party’s co-chairman.
While Zardari’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar claimed in a statement that Zardari had not resigned from his post of co-chairman, PPP Secretary Information Qamar Zaman Kaira told Pakistan Today on the telephone that Zardari would continue to work as patron and elder of the party.
“It is exaggeration out of context,” Babar had stressed in the statement.
Sources in the PPP said that Zardari had to face severe criticism from within the party during recent sessions of the core group held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“During the meetings, most of the party leaders had objected to the policies adopted by Zardari. They also said that since Zardari had failed to turn the party into a popular political force, there was dire need for a drastic change at the helm and Bilawal was best suited for the job,” the source asserted, but hastened to add that the young chairman would be taking guidance from his father nevertheless.
The party’s mouthpiece, Kaira said that offices were meaningless for Asif Zardari and since the party’s chairman, Bilawal, had taken over the party affairs after completing his education, his father was handing him over the reins gradually.
“The media is making a story out of nothing. Co-chairman means the party’s elder. Since he is the party’s senior leader and Bilawal’s father, he would continue to play his role as party’s elder and guide,” said Kaira.
Another party leader welcomed the change at the top level, claiming that Zardari’s policies had caused immense damage to the PPP.
“Even Gen Ziaul Haq could not cause much damage to the PPP as has Zardari. The party has already been wiped out from Punjab while it’s treading on thin ice in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Sindh, PPP’s two successive government have failed to deliver and corruption is rampant among the top leadership of the party. We hope that by giving Bilawal full control over the party’s affairs, PPP might just be able to spring back into form,” he said.
“But Bilawal needs to prove that he’s the man in-charge now. If Manzoor Wattoo remains the party’s lead man in Punjab and Qaim Ali Shah continues to serve as the chief minister of Sindh it would mean that Bilawal will not be an empowered chairman,” the PPP leader added.
However, the statement released by Zardari’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that the “co-chairman” had telephoned Wattoo on Wednesday and appreciated his “dedication and commitment in organising the party cadres in the Punjab for the forthcoming local bodies’ polls”.
According to Babar, Zardari said that “Manzoor Wattoo had earned the respect of many workers for leading the provincial chapter of the party with confidence and ability even under most difficult conditions”.
