Cutting the Sindh card: NPP merges with PML-N

Nawaz gains two more seats; Sindh legislators assured 20% share in federal cabinet.

LAHORE:

National Peoples Party (NPP) chief Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi on Friday announced a merger of his party with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

“Nawaz Sharif’s prudent policies have encouraged us to merge NPP with the PML-N,” the NPP chief told reporters following his meeting with the PML-N president at Raiwind. Speaking to the media, Shahbaz Sharif welcomed NPP’s merger with PML-N, saying it would have a positive impact on Pakistani politics.

With the merger, PML-N gains two more seats in Parliament – namely those of Dr Ibrahim Jatoi and Murtaza Jatoi – along with two more seats in the Sindh Assembly.

According to sources, PML-N approached NPP to discuss a merger after performing badly in Sindh in the May 11 elections. All PML-N heavyweights in Sindh, such as Liaquat Jatoi and Ghous Ali Shah, failed to win a seat, damaging the party’s already negligible position in the province.

Following the PPP’s success in Sindh, the PML-N senior leadership feared it would play the ‘Sindh card’ against Nawaz Sharif’s government in the Centre. To counter this, the PML-N leadership concluded it needed a strong opposition presence in the Sindh Assembly. The sources added that the PML-N leadership has asked Murtaza Jatoi to lead the party’s chapter in Sindh.

Meanwhile, According to a PML-N official, the Sherazi group, headed by Ejaz and Shafqat Sherazi, will also be joining the party along with an MNA and three MPAs in the coming days.

But these new partners come with strings attached. According to sources, they have demanded that 20% of the PML-N’s federal cabinet be comprised of Sindh lawmakers. PML-N has been considering introducing a 25-member cabinet this time around and will reserve five portfolios for legislators from Sindh, the sources maintained. They added one of these portfolios will be allotted to Murtaza Jatoi, another to the Sherazi group and one to the PML-F. Other demands include the provision of jobs and the development of several mega-projects in Sindh.

PML-N in a fix regarding Sindh governor

According to sources, the PML-N is in a fix regarding the appointment of Mumtaz Bhutto as the Sindh governor. They said that while the party considered him a strong enough leader to deal with the PPP-led provincial government, if the PPP choose to appoint an ethnic SIndhi chief minister, the PML-N would have to appoint a governor from the Urdu-speaking community.

Reportedly, Mumtaz Bhutto struck a deal with the PML-N leadership before merging his Sindh National Front with the party. According to details of the deal, the PML-N leadership owes Bhutto either the slot of the Sindh governor or the President of Pakistan.

The sons of late former president Farooq Leghari also joined PML-N on Friday, along with two independent MPAs. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2013.