Zardari did not take PPP leaders into confidence over by-polls candidacy

Apart from Farooq H Naek, no one had any idea what Zardari was to announce

KARACHI: The PPP’s senior leaders in Punjab and Sindh are still wondering over the party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s surprise announcement to enter parliamentary politics by contesting by-elections from a National Assembly constituency (NA 204) in Nawabshah.

Not only the PPP stalwart Aitzaz Ahsan but other leaders also said that no one was taken into confidence prior to the announcement made in the rally at the ninth death anniversary of the former PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.



“We have learnt that only Farooq H Naek had an idea about it,” a central executive committee (CEC) member of the party told The Express Tribune. “I was expecting that the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s by-election was the ‘good news’ that Zardari promised during his homecoming Jalsa on Dec 23.”



He said the PPP leaders looked at one other when Zardari made this announcement.

Sources privy to the development told The Express Tribune that the news of Zardari contesting the election was kept secret from Punjab leaders who were in favour of Bilawal’s decision to revamp the party and stand against the PML-N government.

“We have already conveyed a message to the leadership that our voters in Punjab are not happy with performance of the PML-N government which has victimised us. So, there is a dire need to stand up against the government.

“Bilawal challenged the government but the situation seems totally different after the arrival of Zardari Sahib,” said a central Punjab leader while talking to The Express Tribune over phone. “Common men don’t buy the reconciliation policy, but street agitation announced by Bilawal was a good option,” he added.

During an informal chat, some leaders drew parallels between Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari over consultation on party affairs.

A leader, who was once close to Benazir, said, “Not only BB used to consult us and talk on each and every topic, but she would also get the viewpoint of her personal employees like cooks on different issues,” he said, adding that Zardari’s nature is totally different.



“He shares things with selected people and makes decision on his own,” he said.

Another senior leader from Sindh said there was resentment in the party over this issue, but no one was willing to talk about it. “The CEC is the highest forum to make the decision. It should have been taken into confidence before what he announced in the Jalsa,” the leader – a PPP MNA – said, requesting anonymity.

However, Sindh CM’s Adviser and PPP parliamentarians’ information secretary Maula Bux Chandio dismissed claims that the CEC members were not taken into confidence.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2017.