LAHORE: The PML-N held on Friday its last public meeting of the election campaign for NA-122 by-election and effectively demonstrated its sway in the constituency.
Hamza Shahbaz, the son of Shahbaz Sharif, was the main speaker as both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Punjab chief minister opted not to join the electioneering to avert getting entangled in any legal complication, particularly after a survey of the constituency by a known audit firm that the ruling party would easily sail through the electoral contest.
The same firm had conducted a countrywide survey before the 2013 general elections and the PML-N was satisfied with its results.
Also read: War of words between PML-N, PTI intensifies
The polling will be held on Sunday (Oct 11) and the result is likely to have a far-reaching political impact.
The PML-N chose Samanabad’s Doongi ground in the constituency to show its power. At least 5,000 chairs had been arranged at the venue while all roads, except four, leading to it were barricaded as a security measure. The participants were made to pass through walk-in security gates.
Charged activists carried party flags and some wearing green headscarves, a lion’s image etched on them, raised slogans throughout the meeting.
Since the local government elections are also due 20 days after the by-polls, the candidates in 28 union councils that fall within NA-122 also made their presence felt by joining the meeting in the form of small rallies.
Unlike its past practice, and following the trend set by the PTI, a large number of women activists of the PML-N, some of them carrying little children, were also present. Party songs were played during speeches of the leaders (again the PTI style) to raise spirits of the participants.
Hamza deliberately delayed his speech to see if Imran Khan, holding PTI’s show a couple of miles away, would say anything that could require immediate response from him.
Adopting a populist posture, Hamza got the bulletproof glass removed from the podium saying he did not feel himself threatened among Lahorites.
He severely criticised the PTI chief for the 126-day Islamabad sit-in, its reported negative impact on the international image of the country as well as the language being used by the cricketer-turned-politician against Nawaz Sharif.
He said he could not respond to the PTI chief in the same coin, but would only say that “don’t tease the lion (PML-N election symbol); otherwise it won’t spare you (Khan)”.
He said that if the former cricketer had any sportsman spirit left, he should be ready to accept defeat on Sunday.
Hamza also tried to touch raw nerves of voters by saying that the PTI chief humiliated them by fielding a candidate who is facing land-grabbing charges.
Referring to Imran Khan’s defeat at the hands of Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in 2013, he taunted that the PTI chief avoided another face-off with the PML-N candidate to avoid losing again in the by-polls.
Enumerating the development projects the PML-N government has started, he urged voters to vote for Ayaz Sadiq to continue the “march to progress”.
Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015
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