All eyes on race for Punjab, K-P governor slots

PPP still holding its cards but Kaira and Kundi frontrunners for these posts

LAHORE:

As the PPP leadership continues to hold its card over the candidates for Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governors, it has largely become a one-horse race in the former though a senior party leader indicated that a surprise nominee should not be ruled out in both the provinces.

With presidential elections sorted out, something that the PPP wanted to deal with prior to finalising their picks for the Punjab and K-P governors -- the two positions offered to the party as part of the power-sharing formula with the PML-N -- the announcement of the names for the slots is now expected in another two days or so.

Punjab, which remains a more politically advantageous appointment for the party than K-P, initially had four candidates in the run, namely Makhdum Syed Ahmed Mahmud, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Nadeem Afzal Chan, and Chaudary Riaz.

However, Mahmud, who has already served as a governor once, is not interested in the post and pulled himself out the race, according to well-placed sources.

Chan, given his recent re-entry into the PPP from the PTI has inherent disadvantages despite being in good books of the party leadership.

Similarly, a PPP leader said Riaz, a relatively less known political figure in this race, was unlikely to be considered for this position. This leaves Kaira as the candidate with the bright chances of making it to the office.

Another plus for Kaira that puts him ahead of everyone else is that he is in good books of not only his party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari but also the ‘powerful circles’ as well as the PML-N, according to the sources.

Read Punjab, K-P bid adieu to caretakers as cabinets sworn in

However, the sources said Kaira being “overly” comfortable with the PML-N could be a setback for him.
They added that during the last coalition government, Kaira defended PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif better than his own people, raising many eyebrows about his future in the party. But a PPP leader described Kaira as a learned, soft-spoken and a down-to-earth person, who would in the capacity of the Punjab governor help the party make inroads in the province.

 

He said Mahmud was not the kind of the person, who would keep the doors of the Governor’s House open for the party activists all the time and that placed him at a great disadvantage.

The vibrant and relativity young PPP leader, Faisal Karim Kundi, is likely to bag the post of the K-P governor.

In K-P, Kundi has mettle it to take on not only the PTI but also the JUI-F. Also in the race for the slot is PPP’s K-P President Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, former minister Zahir Ali Shah, Barrister Masood Kausar, and Khawaja Yawar Naseer.

A senior PPP leader from Sindh said the decision about the governorship of Punjab and K-P rested with party co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari.

She said it could be someone from among the names being quoted by the media or entirely somebody else.

When asked about the Sindh governor, she it would be up to the PML-N to pick its candidate as they had an understanding with its senior coalition partner that it should have this position.

However, she was unaware as to whether the PMLN would field its own candidate or offer this position to the MQM-P.