As both the government and opposition leaders labour to secure the slot of the Punjab chief minister, the joint opposition on Friday appeared not only indecisive about their candidature, but also at odds over the coveted post.
Hours after PML-N nominated the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Hamza Shehbaz, as the joint opposition’s candidate for the slot, the PPP – a major party of the joint opposition – shrugged its shoulders and insisted that Hamza was only PML-N’s candidate and did not represent the joint opposition’s preference for the top slot.
Zulfiqar Ali Badar, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto’s spokesperson, told the Express Tribune that opposition parties have not yet made their decision regarding the CM Punjab slot, adding he was not aware of the PML-N’s announcement.
When informed of the press conference where the PML-N announced the decision, the PPP spokesperson said that it must be PMLN's “internal decision”.
A source in the PPP said that although Hamza was not the joint opposition’s nominee, given the speed with which things have unfolded in Punjab, PPP does not have much room to manoeuvre. He said that the arrangement envisaged by PML-N - Hamza in Punjab and his father Shehbaz in the Centre - does not suit the narrative of opposition parties.
The PML-N’s decision was announced after a party’s Punjab parliamentary meeting on Friday.
Announcing the decision after the meeting, MPAs Rana Masud and Khawaja Imran Nazir claimed to have the support of the majority for their candidature.
Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s picking of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi as the next chief minister, the PML-N leaders pointed to many dissenting factions within the ruling party who were giving a thumbs down to the decision. He claimed that lawmakers of the ruling party were in touch with the PML-N and will vote for their candidate.
Speaking about the Cheena group’s announcement to support Elahi as CM Punjab, the MPAs said the group’s decisions were of a “fickle nature”, hinting at the possibility of them swinging back into line with PML-N. “The PML-N has many surprises in store for PTI and PML-Q.”
Earlier in the day, Hamza Shehbaz had revealed that the opposition parties’ candidate for the top slot of the province would be from PML-N, adding that the party had enough numbers to do so.
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Number game
On Friday, a PTI splinter Cheema group comprising around 14 MPAs formally announced their support for Elahi. If the PML-Q leader manages to also woo the Tareen group, then there will be nothing left for the opposition’s candidate to fight for.
Additionally, there were reports that the PML-Q was trying to court the PML-N leaders into voting for Elahi.
The PTI has a total of 183 parliamentarians, while their coalition partner, PML-Q, has ten and the Rah-e-Haq party has one vote.
On the other hand, PML-N has 165 MPAs and the PPP has 7. While five were independent MPA’s, of which according to the Punjab Assembly website, four independent were with the government.
The PML-N, too, has a splinter group led by Sharqpuri of four MPAs while one PPP MPA has also in the past gone astray, which means that the total tally of the opposition without the said votes would be 167. Keeping in view this number game, the PML-N in every case needs to coax 19 PTI MPAs to vote for their candidate.
Earlier in the day, MPA Marghoob Ahmad while talking to The Express Tribune had said that Hamza Shehbaz was the most suitable candidate for the slot. He said there was a consensus in the party that he should be the opposition parties’ candidate. He said that they will keep their opinion before the party leadership in the meeting.
Hamza Shehbaz during the press conference talking about the Tareen group said that they had met with the Tareen faction, and the meeting went well.
He further said that the Tareen group was looking towards the people to make their decision while the people were looking towards PML-N. He also denied the impression of any horse-trading, though he said that they are political people and political options such as seat adjustments can and will be exercised, when and where needed.
Hamza said that the only solution to the existing problem was fresh elections.
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