Campaign trail: Gunning for Gujrat

PML-Q’s Pervaiz Elahi aims to take back the seat his cousin lost in 2008.

GUJRAT:

Even though the arrow pierced his cousin’s chest the last time around, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi knows that this time, his job is to keep the Tiger from puncturing his bicycle.

The PML-Q Punjab president is contesting from NA-105, one of the four National Assembly constituencies of Gujrat district. Here, Elahi faces off against the PML-N’s Chaudhry Mubashir Raza and PPP’s Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, who won the seat in 2008 by defeating PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

But despite Mukhtar’s previous success, Elahi brushed off the threat posed by the former defence minister.

Addressing a corner meeting at the Sargodha Road Bazaar, he maintained it was pointless to criticise Mukhtar since he was a ‘weak candidate’. Instead, Elahi directed his attention towards the PML-N, accusing Shahbaz Sharif of major corruption in the Punjab government’s ‘Sasti Roti’ scheme.

I trailed Elahi as he went campaigning, following him as he visited shop after shop on Sargodha road.

While Gujrat is the Chaudhrys’ home district, this is the first time Elahi is contesting from NA-105 and it’s clear that his campaign is aimed at reminding voters about his services for Gujrat. He cited the establishment of a university, an emergency service, a stadium and other infrastructure in the city, along with the provision of free medicines to residents, as some his achievements during his previous run in Parliament.

And it seems he’s serious in getting his message across. As we stop for lunch, Elahi is about to wash his hands when a message comes that a certain shopkeeper is upset that he wasn’t visited. Lunch is forgotten as Elahi immediately rushes off to placate him.

On his return he answers my question about why he is only targeting the PML-N in his speeches, while ignoring Mukhtar entirely. “The PML-N has devastated Punjab,” he replies. He also claims that despite the fact that was running for NA-105 for the first time, he had received a warm welcome from voters while Mukhtar had fallen out of the public’s favour. In the same breath he also says that the PML-Q and PPP would nab all seats from Gujrat.

Unsurprisingly, the PML-N candidate Chaudhry Mubashar Raza disagrees. Sitting in his residence adjacent to the Zahoor House of the Chaudhry brothers, Raza rubbished Elahi’s talk of sweeping seats in Gujrat. He maintained it would be hard for the first-time NA-105 entrant to win from the constituency which has been a PML-N hub for a long time.

“All PML-N workers who were not awarded tickets by the party have decided to contest the elections as independent candidates against PML-N’s ticket holders…. Such disgruntled candidates will not only create trouble for PML-N, but may actually end up benefitting the candidates of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,” says Elahi.

“These candidates will act like a missile aimed at the party on May 11,” he predicted.

“Independent candidates who have not received tickets from PML-N will act like a missile aimed at the party on May 11,” says Elahi.

A visit to Gujrat’s old fruit mandi, one of the city’s largest markets, painted an unclear picture. While many favoured the Chaudhry brothers, others expressed support for the PML-N. Some of the youth expressed support for PTI, despite the fact that the party’s candidate from Gujrat was no longer in the running. One thing was clear, however, and that is that the PPP enjoys next to no support.

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Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2013.