CHANGE is what every major political party had promised to bring at the time of 2013 general elections but nine months later the people who put them in power at the centre and in the provinces find ‘more of the same’ politics they had grown sick of over 60 years. They see no change in the style of politics. If there is any, it is only in nuance.

A week is a long time in politics, but some do remember the shrieking headlines that late night huddles at the presidency used to produce in the media during the PPP rule that the general elections ended.

Every time a crisis hit the PPP-led government, Asif Ali Zardari, then co-chairman of PPP and President of Pakistan, called a meeting of the party’s ‘core committee’ at the presidency and got branded a dictator for that. And there seemed some crisis waiting for the PPP – from contempt charge against two of its prime ministers to the now forgotten Memogate scandal.

Indeed, the only criterion to be picked as member of the ‘core committee’ seemed having the trust of Mr Zardari.

Senator Babar Awan is a living proof of that presumption. He not only was removed as the federal law minister but was also stripped of all PPP offices when he lost the trust of Zardari by refusing to defend the then prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, in the Supreme Court. And the court stripped Gilani of his office of chief executive of Pakistan.

In those days of crisis, many partymen used to criticise the core committee and its huddles as undemocratic and against the PPP’s constitution.

Times have changed but not the practice. Rivals, who confined the PPP to its home province of Sindh in the last general elections, have allegedly taken up the condemnable PPP legacy.

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) largely filled the vacuum its ouster created in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). PTI now rules the KP while in Punjab it is the main opposition to the triumphant PML-N.

Now, like the then PPP dissidents, the disgruntled in the PTI ranks accuse their chairman Imran Khan of running party affairs in the style of Zardari - through handpicked trustworthy members while ignoring others.

Over the weekend, the deputy information secretary of the PTI Adnan Randhawa became so frustrated with Imran Khan’s “disregard for the party’s constitution” that he parted ways.

“There is an elected central executive committee and national council of the party, but it is the core committee which has been calling the shots,” he told Dawn.

Under the PTI constitution, the party chairman is bound to convene meetings of the CEC after every 60 days, and the national council at least once a year, according to Randhawa. “But the party leadership was only interested in the core committee meetings,” he said.“People of Pakistan trusted PTI under Imran Khan but he has, due to his personal and political compromises, virtually handed over the party to the same political elite the PTI stood up against. Its status quo credentials have now been finally certified and stamped by the special visit Nawaz Sharif paid to Imran Khan,” he added.

Though his romance with the PTI leadership has ended “because of its increasing proclivity for status-quo politicians,” he claims his romance with the slogan of ‘Change’ has not.

But, strangely, what the rebel Randhawa did next was in the same Pakistani style of politics he abhors. Overnight he launched his own party, stealing the name of the Indian Aam Admi Party.

No wonder PTI leaders dismiss Mr Randhawa’s criticism of their party as unwarranted.

Dr Arif Alvi, the only member of the National Assembly of the PTI from Sindh, defended PTI’s core committee and its regular meetings.

“For a focused and result oriented discussion, the constitution of the party allows meetings of the core committee, whose members are nominated by the chairman from within its CEC,” he said.

In fact, it was he who recommended “forming the core committee, and restricting its membership, for meaningful group discussion”. “Every time the committee meets, we invite experts of the subject on the agenda to listen to their opinions. Thus some 30 participants discuss an issue.”

Dr Shireen Mazari, information secretary of the PTI, insisted that the party was “following true principles of democracy, where everybody is welcome to express his or her views and even criticise its policies”.

That may well be true but it is also true that general secretary Jahangir Tareen, nominated by Imran Khan to the important position, looms large at crucial party meetings despite pressure from the ranks for election to the powerful post.

The influence that Tareen wields is such that, according to an insider, chairman Imran Khan dissolved the entire party structure in Balochistan at his whim.

Reason allegedly was Balochistan PTI’s opposition and to Tareen’s appointment to the post and reluctance to accept him as such.