LAHORE, June 8: The change of loyalty is viewed differently by different people. For some it's something to be proud of while for others it's a shameful act, to say the least.
Views on the subject were expressed by various legislators in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday when deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan alleged that the government was pressuring PML-N MPA Nazir Dogar, now under arrest, to switch loyalty and join hands with the ruling party.
The leader from Faisalabad alleged that the Punjab chief minister was trying to turn most of the opposition lawmakers into turncoats so that 'lotas' could be seen all over the province. Condemning such efforts, he also led a brief walkout from the house, which was joined by the MMA.
When the protesters returned to the house, a former opposition MP who is now with the ruling party, defended his decision of changing loyalty. "The people I have joined hands with were branded as turncoats, and I thought I should also be with them," said Talib Dagraan.
However, PPP's Farzana Raja said shifting loyalty amounted to changing paternity and thus turncoats belonging to either sex should not defend their decision without compunction.
Her remarks were also an attempt to answer PPP-Patriot MP Imbisat Khan who had changed loyalty shortly after the elections and was called 'loti' by the fellow legislators. She had said in a brief speech that for leaders like Mian Nawaz Sharif and Ms Benazir Bhutto it was easier to change their adversarial relationship and become brother and sister, but for an ordinary worker like her it was quite a difficult task.
Rana Sanaullah said more than 150 MPs on the treasury benches were turncoats and Minister for Agriculture Arshad Khan Lodhi was among them. He recalled how Mr Lodhi and others used to liken Mian Nawaz Sharif to a moon and themselves to stars around it.
"Look at the star", he said, in an attempt to ridicule the minister. Mr Lodhi advised his critic to look into his own conduct before criticizing others. Whatever adjectives the PML-N and PML-Q legislators and the PPP-Parliamentarians and PPP-Patriots use for each other, they have a common past, a fact which neither side is in a position to deny. They are the branches of the same tree.
Most of the leaders in the PML-N or the PML-Q were together in the PML led by the late Muhammad Khan Junejo. Then many of them threw their weight behind Mian Nawaz Sharif when he set up his own party after the death of Mr Junejo. Then the PML-Q was carved out while the PML-N maintained its separate identity.
At present, all those who had contested the election from the platform of the PML-Q or the National Alliance or some other splinter groups are together in the PML. The suffix QA is no longer part of their nomenclature. Technically, this means these people have disowned the platform from which they had contested the election.
The situation in the PPP-Patriots and the PPP(Sherpao) is no different. Those who set up the PPP-Patriots had contested the election from the platform of the PPP-Parliamentarians, headed by Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
The PPP-Parliamentarians was launched as the PPP, of which Ms Bhutto is the chairperson, was likely to be disqualified to contest the election. After the elections, some leaders parted ways with the PPP-Parliamentarians and set up their own faction: PPP-Patriots.
Then the PPP-Patriots and the PPP (Sherpao) merged and set up the PPP, a party which is already there and is headed by Ms Bhutto. This means that, legally speaking, the people in the brand new PPP changed their platforms twice after the elections.
Keeping these somersaults in mind, the term 'turncoat' should be defined afresh. Many faces fell following press reports that corrupt and inefficient ministers in the Punjab cabinet are likely to be removed.
Faisalabad's Raja Riaz repeatedly embarrassed the ministers by displaying in the house an eveninger which carried the report. Some ministers surreptitiously looked at the paper and the mischief in the eyes of the man who brought it in.
