PTI MPs waiting for ‘signals’ to jump ship: Abbasi

PML-N leader and former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has claimed that over 22 MNAs belonging to the ruling party were willing to pedal into the folds of the opposition but would not do so as long as the “state” backed the incumbent government — a tacit reference to the “establishment”.

The former premier’s claim has snowballed into controversy and is likely to seed grounds for another searing chapter of a political slugfest as the opposition is already engaged in meetings with the coalition partners in efforts to buttress its force against the government.

The claim elicited a rebuttal from the cabinet ministers as well as Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, challenging the PML-N leadership to reveal the names of PTI members allegedly in contact with the opposition.

Asked what was keeping the lawmakers from making a final decision, Abbasi told The Express Tribune that the lawmakers were waiting for “clear signals” that there will be no pressure on them from the powers that be if they move ahead.

The PML-N leader said that “they do not have specific demands, but they would definitely want a continuation of their politics” – apparently a hint that they might ask for PML-N’s ticket in their respective constituencies in the next general elections.

Abbasi added that they have stated their ideology: “As long as the state is with the government, they [lawmakers] are with the government.” The leader replied in affirmative when asked if he meant “establishment” when he used the word “state” and if the 22 lawmakers would jump the ship only when there was no pressure on them from the powers that be.

Read Opposition relying on PTI defections

“Yes,” he said. The request to name the lawmakers met with a smiling emoji and two words: “PTI MNAs.”

‘Hardly a single person would abandon PTI’

However, the government has vehemently denied the possibility of defection and rather insisted that the scenario was quite the contrary.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, reacting to Abbasi’s claims, maintained that “the political status of those who will be leaving Prime Minister Imran Khan will be doomed and their stature will eventually become zero in eyes of the public”.

The government’s spokesperson claimed that hardly a single person would leave the party that has ended the hereditary politics of PPP and PML-N in Pakistan. Instead, the minister said, people would join PTI in droves in the upcoming days.

To a question about the government’s coalition partners, the minister had said that every political party took decisions that suited their political interests.