The number game
BNP-M’s exit has reduced the PTI-led ruling coalition’s strength in the National Assembly to 180 seats
The Finance Bill is in the National Assembly. What more opportune time than this could it be for the government’s coalition partners to press for their (fair and unfair) demands? Prime Minster Imran Khan’s recent two-day visit to Karachi seems to have come in the same context — further necessitated by the withdrawal of the BNP-M, which has four seats in the National Assembly, from the ruling coalition. In Karachi, the PM met MQM and other allied parties and reiterated his commitment to their “common goal of improving public service” — in what may be interpreted as his reassurance on meeting their demands. So political was his visit that the PM could not find time to meet Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah or any notable representative of his government even when the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has assumed frightening proportions in the provinces, just as in other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the BNP-M’s exit has reduced the PTI-led ruling coalition’s strength in the National Assembly to 180 seats — just eight more than the simple majority needed to keep control of the 342-strong house. The PTI is, thus, in a relatively comfortable position, provided it keeps its all other allies happy, including MQM having 7 seats, PML-Q (5) BAP (5), Independents (2) GDA (3), AML (1) and JWP (1). The last-mentioned party has also expressed its reservations and threatened to go the BNP-M’s way in case these reservations are not addressed.
The BNP-M’s withdrawal from the ruling coalition, however, did not come all of a sudden. Twice earlier — in June 2019 and October 2019 — had the party chief, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, had reminded the PM over their six unmet demands, including: recovery of missing persons; implementation on the National Action Plan; allocation of 6% quota for Balochistan in federal government jobs; immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees; and construction of dams in the province to resolve the acute water crisis.
While the PM may not, unfortunately, be able to even pursue an item or two in the mentioned list of demands, he could immediately start off on a few others to win the BNP-M trust and bring it back to the fold of the ruling collation and provide it the much-needed numerical stability.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2020.
Meanwhile, the BNP-M’s exit has reduced the PTI-led ruling coalition’s strength in the National Assembly to 180 seats — just eight more than the simple majority needed to keep control of the 342-strong house. The PTI is, thus, in a relatively comfortable position, provided it keeps its all other allies happy, including MQM having 7 seats, PML-Q (5) BAP (5), Independents (2) GDA (3), AML (1) and JWP (1). The last-mentioned party has also expressed its reservations and threatened to go the BNP-M’s way in case these reservations are not addressed.
The BNP-M’s withdrawal from the ruling coalition, however, did not come all of a sudden. Twice earlier — in June 2019 and October 2019 — had the party chief, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, had reminded the PM over their six unmet demands, including: recovery of missing persons; implementation on the National Action Plan; allocation of 6% quota for Balochistan in federal government jobs; immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees; and construction of dams in the province to resolve the acute water crisis.
While the PM may not, unfortunately, be able to even pursue an item or two in the mentioned list of demands, he could immediately start off on a few others to win the BNP-M trust and bring it back to the fold of the ruling collation and provide it the much-needed numerical stability.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2020.