ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s upcoming visit to Lahore may yet hold more challenges for the political prodigy.

In the midst of efforts to reorganise the party in Punjab after its dismal outing in the previous general election, there are indications that Bilawal may face opposition from within the party’s ranks to his efforts to streamline the affairs of the party in the country’s largest province.

Know more: Bilawal spells out bold agenda for PPP

According to party spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, Bilawal is expected to head to Lahore in the next couple of days and will celebrate the party’s Foundation Day in Lahore. He will also hold a series of meetings with party leaders and workers.

However, in the words of the spokesperson, it is not yet clear whether he would attempt to win over disgruntled politicians from Punjab, who have been threatening to leave the party.

PPP leader and former federal minister Firdous Ashiq Awan — who recently met former president and party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as well — expressed displeasure over what she called “the party’s step-motherly attitude towards her”.

Ms Awan told Dawn she believed she lost the 2013 election because of rifts within the party. “I am now being victimised by politicians from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N, which is being openly supported by the party in the context of the ongoing political crisis in the country," she said.

Also read: Bilawal — PPP’s last hope in Punjab?

She said the National Accountability Bureau had launched “baseless and concocted cases” against her at the behest of Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif, who is one of her main political rivals in her hometown of Sialkot.

Safdar Abbasi, a close confidant of the late Benazir Bhutto and one of the leaders who had split with the PPP following the death of Ms Bhutto, said that Bilawal would have to make decisions on several key fronts if he wanted to revive the party: where does the party stand, where does he stand; whether there should be democracy within the party and whether those who are responsible for the party’s downfall need to be held accountable.

“If Bilawal fails to take these steps, he will damage the party beyond repair,” Mr Abbasi said. “If he manages to address these concerns, I will be among the first to join him,” he added.

Over the past months, reports of differences within the party’s high command have leaked in the press. A PPP MPA, Parveen Junejo, was reportedly asked to resign, while disagreements between key party leaders are said to have overshadowed discussions during recent meetings of the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC).

A source privy to a recent CEC meeting told Dawn that Bilawal had been warned by certain leaders that if things were not fixed, most PPP ticketholders of 2013 may contest the next elections on other parties’ tickets.

“A senior PPP leader and former federal minister, during the meeting, told Bilawal that he had received a phone call from PPP Women’s Wing President Faryal Talpur, asking him whether he planned to stay with the party,” the source said.

The former minister deplored that despite being a loyal worker who had made various sacrifices for the party in the past, his loyalty was being called into question.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2014