‘Two brothers quarrel and party falls into chaos’, Hammad mocks PML-N

Energy Minister Hammad Azhar has taken an indirect jibe at his rival political party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying “family owned political parties are so superficial”.

“Two brothers quarrel and the party falls into chaos. And the minions are left clueless and irrelevant, thinking which side will eventually win,” the ruling PTI minister wrote on his Twitter handle while referring to the alleged differences between Nawaz and Shehbaz.

His statement comes amid reports of rifts within the PML-N gained credence when PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz remained absent during party meetings that were presided over by party supremo Nawaz Sharif from London via video link earlier this week.

On Thursday, PML-N held a divisional meeting in Lahore to organise the party at the union council level. The meeting was attended by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, General Secretary Ahsan Iqbal Punjab President Rana Sanaullah among other party leaders.

Interestingly, PML-N MPA from Bahawalpur Khalid Mehmood Baber told The Express Tribune that the party president was scheduled to preside over the session to their knowledge.

“But for reason not known to us, he [Shehbaz] could not attend the meeting,” he added.

Also read: Shehbaz, Hamza absence from party huddle feeds rumor mill

Denying the reports of any discord within party ranks, Shehbaz’s spokesperson Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan while talking to The Express Tribune had said that there was no need for party president to participate in every meeting.

A well-placed source within the party claimed that Shehbaz was being sidelined in his own party and was not allowed to speak his mind out in public. Every such attempt has been met with reprisal from within the party, it said.

The source noted that Shehbaz’s absence from the DG Khan meeting was an “escalation of a war of narratives” in the party. It said Nawaz wanted to advance his narrative in the party and did not want to give any space to the narrative of reconciliation.

The source said it seemed things had come to a “tipping point” in the party and added that “soon this divide would be at a point of no return”.