With time running out, PML-N considers embracing the Chauhdrys with a condition

There is an apparent change of heart in Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) for its erstwhile severely bitter rival, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) led by the Chudhrys of Gujrat. The PML-N spokesperson Mushahidullah Khan said on Wednesday that the
party was willing to embrace the Chauhdrys provided they quit the alliance with Pakistan People’s Party.

The PML-N was rumoured to have been weighing this option for quite a while now; but on Wednesday it was formally made known by its information secretary Mushahdiullah Khan.

The announcement came on Wednesday at a time when the PML-N is struggling hard to bring to heel its emerging contender Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI). However, there is a lot to be settled before PML-N succeeds in its objective.

Chaudhrys of Gujrat – both Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and Chauhdry Shujahat Hussain, parted their ways with the PML-N after General Pervez Musharaf seized the reigns of power in 1999. As Nawaz Sharif left for Saudi Arab after a deal with the military government,
the Chaudhrys deemed it inevitable and politically expedient to be a part of king party (PML-Q), essentially ensuring their survival.  

With the PML-Q participating in 2002 elections, PML-N was completely swept out of political spectrum with the heavy defeat of the latter as its many leaders quit the party in the wake of main leadership’s absence. With the party’s future bleak, the uncertainty
only melted away when Nawaz Sharif returned to country in 2007, resuscitating the demoralized and disjointed PML-N.

Although the party eventually succeeded in removing a lot of dents and disfigurements, the PML-N held the Chauhdrys responsible for whatever the party suffered. Chauhdrys, on their part, blamed the PML-N leadership for what it says dealt a serious blow to
the party: The agreement with Musharaf to escape imprisonment.

But the willingness of the PML-N to even embrace Chahudrys now submits evidence of their desperation. Previously, they had only one party to contend with, the old rival PPP. Now it is the PTI that is posing a very serious challenge to PML-N in its powerbase
— Punjab. The only way to counter it, so it seems, is to re-establish the contacts with the PML-Q and bring them back in the fold.

However, even for that, the PML-N has a precondition: Quit the alliance with the PPP and then we will embrace you. "If the Chaudhrys end their parliamentary alliance with the PPP and work actively to get rid of its government, we may sit with them,” PML-N
information secretary Mushahidullah Khan said.

With the political space shrinking for PML-N despite all its efforts to prove the proposition wrong, the PML-N has to think twice before laying out conditions. Time and tide is not favouring them to make any condition to a party, PML-Q, which –through seat
adjustments with PPP -is all set to win major share in Punjab in coming elections.

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Posted by Sajjad Hussain on Oct 27 2011. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry