LAHORE: The PPP has started making efforts to bring opposition parties, especially Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), on one platform against the PML-N ahead of local body polls in Punjab.

“The PTI for the first time has realised how important it is for the opposition parties in Punjab to gather on one platform against the PML-N,” former Punjab governor and PPP South Punjab President Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood said.

Talking to journalists at an Iftar dinner here on Sunday, Mahmood said for the first time local body elections were being held on party basis. He said the PPP’s efforts to gather all opposition parties under one umbrella would soon bear fruit.

“There has been consensus among opposition parties that an alliance can be formed ahead of local body polls (scheduled for September) if clean people come forward,” he added.

Talking about the likely visit of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to Punjab next month, the former governor said all preparations had been completed to welcome him here.

“This time Bilawal will not only actively participate in political activities in Lahore, but would also visit the south,” he said.

Flanked by PPP South Punjab Secretary General Shaukat Basra and Abdul Qadir Shaheen, Mahmood said it had been a big test for Bilawal to make his space in politics. He said the PPP had been facing propaganda regarding corruption and nepotism.

He was also critical of the PML-N’s style of politics, saying in Punjab there was no acceptability for a Sindhi leader as the Sharif brothers had once raised the slogan of ‘Jaag Punjabi Jaag’, which set a negative trend.

“And this mindset is not ready to accept a Sindhi leader here,” he said and further argued that the PML-N had been hurt the most because of this as it had become a regional party itself.

“We hope the people of Punjab will like Bilawal,” he said.

Mahmood said the relations between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari were no more ideal after the premier refused to meet the PPP co-chairman. He said the PML-N government would again fail to fulfil its promise to control loadshedding by 2018 as no concrete measures had been taken so far.

To a question about corruption in Sindh, the former governor said it was much less than in Punjab. “We have asked the establishment to start accountability from Punjab,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2015

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