PPP provincial leaders skeptical of alliance with PML-N

Concerns expressed over potential loss of vote bank, further damage to reputation

LAHORE: The newly forged alliance of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has apparently upset the local leadership of PPP, which has termed this alliance detrimental to their comeback efforts in Punjab.

A senior provincial leader of the PPP, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that PPP and PML-N have vast ideological differences.

He called the PML-N a byproduct of dictatorship as compared to the PPP, which he said was a truly democratic party. “The differences are not limited to ideology; rather, there are many personal level differences between leaderships of both the parties,” the leader said.

He said that such an alliance would damage the little support the PPP has managed to garner for itself in Punjab with its aggressive policy after the elections. He said that it was the go-soft policy of the party that had badly damaged its vote bank, especially in Punjab.



He also bemoaned the tag of ‘friendly opposition’ that, he said, was attached to the party throughout the last government’s tenure. He argued that it adversely affected the PPP’s performance in the last general election.

After winning 93 provincial assembly seats in Punjab in 2008, the PPP lost most of the ground it had gained by 2013, when it managed to clinch only eight seats. By 2018, that number went down to seven seats, he said.

Despite the situation, he added, the local leaders anticipate that the party would distance itself from PML-N in this tenure and move forward with its aggressive policy. However, he added that they agree with the earlier policy of the party of issue-based working relationship with PML-N in the National Assembly.

Nonetheless, he insisted that the current alliance was uncalled for and would further damage the party’s position in Punjab. “We will communicate the reservations to the party leadership about this issue,” he concluded.

Another PPP member of provincial assembly (MPA) also rejected this alliance and suggested that the party leadership should reconsider its decision in the best interest of the party.

PPP Punjab parliamentary leader Hasan Murtaza urged the party to return to its manifesto of doing politics for the masses. “Whatever goes against the party manifesto would be greatly damaging for the party,” he said.

Regarding the concerns of the party’s provincial parliamentarians on the recent alliance, he said it was the leadership’s decision and such differences, if any, would be debated internally.

He also compared the current politico-economic situation of the country to the seventies, when the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto-led PPP came to power. Calling it the perfect time for the party to move back towards its roots, he said the current situation of joblessness, homelessness and poverty makes Bhutto’s slogan of ‘roti, kapra aur makan’ (food, shelter and clothing) the need of the hour.