GUJRAT: Kharian Cantonment is the only station where PML-N candidates suffered a defeat; the party has been victorious in almost all cantonment boards from Lahore to Rawalpindi in the central Punjab region.

PML-N workers say serious differences among party leaders in Gujrat district was the major reason behind its defeat here.

The opposition PML-Q, Jamaat-i-Islami and PPP-backed independent candidate Chaudhry Naseer Haider and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Masood Chohan clinched both seats of Kharian cantonment. The PML-N nominees secured third and second places in wards 1 and 2, respectively highlighting the sorry tale of the party’s strategy in Kharian.

A worker while citing the alleged reason for the party’s defeat in Kharian said both their candidates had been selected by MNA Abid Raza Kotla and his brother MPA Shabeer Kotla with no other party representative or office-bearer in the district chapter consulted. This resulted in the debacle, as almost all other legislators and party leaders from Gujrat stayed away from electioneering of the nominees.

He claimed there was a clear divide in the ranks of PML-N Gujrat and the senior leadership was not interested in resolving the issues that could worsen in the upcoming local government elections.

Another PML-N worker from Kharian said the party’s district chapter had been made almost dysfunctional since the PML-N came into power, as most of the decisions were made by the legislators rather than a forum of workers who were never taken into confidence.

Chaudhry Faraz, a PML-N loyalist who remained associated with the party’s election campaign in Kharian Cantonment, said had the local party cadre united ahead of the polls the results would have been different. The party’s district president and general secretary did not take interest in electioneering and he had proof that some party officials had even sought votes for the PTI candidates in Kharian, he claimed.

He sought an inquiry team constituted by the senior leadership to look into the reasons behind the defeat to avoid such occurrences in the local government elections across the district.

Sources close to PML-N Gujrat President MPA Malik Haneef Awan said neither he nor General Secretary Haji Nasir Mehmood had been asked by any of the senior leadership to devise a strategy or get involved in the electioneering. But so far it had been proved that poor selection of candidates and keeping party officials away from the strategy had resulted in the defeat.

The PML-N has clearly been divided into two main groups: old timers such as MPAs Haneef Awan, Imran Zafar and former MPA Haji Nasir Mehmood with a little support from MPA Mian Tariq Mehmood of Dinga, and the other comprising the so-called new comers who joined the party after it came into power in 2008 such as the Kotla group with an MNA and MPA, the Nawabzada group with an MNA and two MPAs and old timer MNA Jaafar Iqbal.

The old timers feel ignored at the hands of MNA Hamza Shahbaz who is at the helm of affairs in the provincial government. The second group is known for its strong backing of Hamza who had reportedly got District Police Officer Rai Ijaz Ahmed transferred from Gujrat recently on an alleged request of the newcomers’ group.

They also have reservations over District Coordination Officer Liaquat Ali Chattha, who is known to have strong support from Hamza whom he remained a personal staff officer for before being posted in Gujrat.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2015

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