- Four candidates, including three endorsed by the PTI, are heading to IPP.
- One MNA and eight MPAs-elect join the PML-N; insiders claim that Nawaz withdrew from the PM contest to guarantee Maryam the CM seat.
LAHORE: Discontent has been building inside the previous ruling party and has also seenplenty on social media following the selection of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif for the position of prime minister to head a multi-party alliance in the Center.
The PML-N first said that its supreme leader, Nawaz Sharif, would be their choice for the coveted position. This assertion was supported by a vigorous media campaign conducted in the run-up to the polls.
In contrast to his brother, who has held the position three times, the younger Sharif was chosen as the prime ministerial nominee after the PML-N was unable to secure a simple majority.
Since he has been “sidelined,” the party’s lower ranks are having a hard time accepting this. With the hashtag “*Pakistan Kou Nawaz Doh,” more than 91,000 tweets on Wednesday purportedly came from PML-N supporters.
Social media users were asking the same questions over and over in a number of tweets: what happened to the election slogan “Pakistan Kou Nawaz Doh” and is Nawaz’s political career gone?
Senator Asif Kirmani, Nawaz Sharif’s political secretary, had similar reservations over Shehbaz Sharif’s selection to lead the prospective coalition government as prime minister. He wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Nawaz Sharif took a courageous choice to decline the leadership in a joint government but people who campaigned for ‘Pakistan Kou Nawaz Doh’ are disappointed.”
نواز شریف نے مخلوط حکومت کی وزارت عظمی ٹھکرا کر دلیرانہ اور مدبرانہ فیصلہ کیا ، لیکن ان کے ووٹرز ، سپورٹرز اور چاہنے والے جنہوں نے "پاکستان کو نواز دو " کے نعرے پر مسلم لیگ ( ن ) کو ووٹ دیا کو اس فیصلے سے مایوسی ھوئی ھے !
— Dr. Syed Asif Kirmani (@KirmaniAsif) February 13, 2024
“All paths lead to power politics!” he continued. The middle class is disappearing quickly. Educated but unemployed millennials from the middle class have rebelled against this unfair system in the general elections of 2024! For political parties to win over the working class and the impoverished, their tactics must alter.
All roads lead to power politics ! Middle class is rapidly vanishing. Educated jobless middle class youth has revolted against this unjust system in the general election 2024 !
Political parties must change their strategy in order to gain support of middle class n poor !
— Dr. Syed Asif Kirmani (@KirmaniAsif) February 14, 2024
Maryam steps forward to defend
The party’s inability to achieve a clear majority in the polls on February 8 prompted Maryam Nawaz, the senior vice president and chief minister candidate from Punjab, to intervene and defend her father’s decision to pull out from the fight for the top position.
“Nawaz Sharif held an overwhelming majority in the lower house of parliament during his three prior terms as prime minister. He has declared in previous speeches that he would not join a coalition government. She stated, “Those who know Nawaz know full well that he has no interest in heading a coalition administration.
According to Ms. Sharif, for the next five years, her father will actively participate in mainstream politics while also “supervising” the operations of the federal and Punjabi governments. As his soldiers, Shehbaz and I are obligated to carry out his orders. We’ll operate under his direction and control,” she continued.
وزارت عظمیٰ کا عہدہ قبول نا کرنے کا مطلب اگر یہ اخذ کیا جا رہا ہے کہ نواز شریف سیاست سے کنارہ کش ہو رہے ہیں تو اس میں کوئی سچائی نہیں۔ اگلے ۵ سال وہ نا صرف بھرپور سیاست کریں گے بلکہ وفاق و پنجاب میں اپنی حکومتوں کی سرپرستی کریں گے انشاءاللّہ۔
نوازشریف کی تینوں حکومتوں میں عوام…
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) February 14, 2024
According to a person close to the Sharif family, Nawaz Sharif made the decision to drop out of the contest in support of his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who will become the first female chief minister of Punjab, the province with the largest population.
He stated that Maryam would not have been able to become the chief minister of Punjab if Nawaz Sharif had been appointed as the coalition government’s premier. He declared, “Nawaz forfeited his desire to serve as PM for the fourth time out of love for his daughter.”
According to a party official who spoke to Dawn, it would have been had Nawaz Sharif been in charge rather than Shehbaz Sharif, who, given his extensive background as a provincial administrator, ought to have been asked to take over in Punjab in order to regain the lost territory. The source declared that it “would rather prove to be a disaster” and that it was not a wise option to nominate the novice Maryam Nawaz in this hostile climate.
Additional independents join IPP and “N”
Eight independent MPAs-elect and one MNA-elect supported the PML-N on Wednesday, while four MPAs-elect, three of whom were sponsored by the PTI, joined the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), the party’s partner.
راجن پور پی پی 296 سے آزاد ممبر صوبائی اسمبلی سردار اویس دریشک کی صدر استحکامِ پاکستان پارٹی عبدالعلیم خان سے ملاقات ہوئی، آئی پی پی قیادت پر مکمل اعتماد کا اظہار کرتے ہوئے پارٹی میں شمولیت کا اعلان کیا۔#AbdulAleemKhan #IstehkamEPakistanParty pic.twitter.com/QNTB90wERX
— Team Aleem Khan (@teamaleemkhan) February 14, 2024
Sardar Awais Drashik (PP-296) Rajanpur; Zahid Ismaeel Bhutta (PP-270) Muzaffarghar; Hafiz Tahir Qaisrani (PP-284) Taunsa; and independent Ghazanfar Abbas Cheena (PP-91) are the three MPAs-elect supported by the PTI. In Lahore, Bhakkar paid Aleem Khan a visit and declared his intention to join the IPP. Aleem Khan declared that ten or fifteen more MPA-elects would shortly become members of the IPP.
بھکر پی پی 91 سے آزاد ممبر صوبائی اسمبلی حافظ غضنفر عباس چھینہ کی صدر استحکامِ پاکستان پارٹی عبدالعلیم خان سے ملاقات ہوئی، آئی پی پی قیادت پر مکمل اعتماد کا اظہار کرتے ہوئے پارٹی میں شمولیت کا اعلان کیا۔ اس موقع پر سینئر رہنما آئی پی پی شعیب صدیقی اور میاں خالد محمود بھی موجود… pic.twitter.com/PdzqnNnFCT
— Team Aleem Khan (@teamaleemkhan) February 14, 2024
Conversely, the PML-N attracted independents from all throughout Punjab.
Sultan Bahu, MPA-elect (PP-132) Mahmood Qadir Laghari (PP-289) Lodhran; Nankana Sahib; Shazia Tareen (PP-225) Hanif Patafi; Dera Ghazi Khan (PP-288) Ali Asghar Gurmani; Dera Ghazi Khan (PP-283) Both Taimur Lali (PP-94) and Layyah Chiniot declared his joining the PML-N when he spoke with Maryam Nawaz.
پنجاب اسمبلی کے 6 مزید ارکان مسلم لیگ (ن) میں شامل ہو گئے
پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) کی سینیئر نائب صدر اور وزیر اعلی پنجاب کی نامزد امیدوار مریم نواز شریف سے ملاقات میں پارٹی میں شمولیت کا اعلان
1/4 pic.twitter.com/JDLaBTGcC7
— PMLN Punjab (@PMLNPunjabPk) February 14, 2024
In a related development, Shehbaz Sharif was called by MNA-elect Raza Hayat Hiraj (NA-144) Khanewal, MPA-elects Akbar Hayat Haraj (PP-205) and Asghar Hayat Hiraj (PP-212), who declared their intention to join the PML-N.
Following the votes on February 8, the PML-N released a list of an independent who had become part of the party, including eight MPAs and two MNAs. The PTI-backed Waseem Qadir from Lahore’s NA-121 is among them. The PML-N holds 137 seats in the Punjab assembly and 79 seats in the national assembly, respectively, based on unofficial election results.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
