IT may be the oldest rule in politics: a denial is usually a sign that something may be afoot. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan’s denial that there is a forward bloc in the making in the PML-N parliamentary caucus or that an in-house change is being considered, ie the PML-N may be seeking to replace the prime minister, is an indication at least of how insistent speculation has become in recent days.

The interior minister is no political neophyte — denials or rejection of political rumours by him even during the course of an informal chat with reporters, is likely to draw much attention.

Perhaps Chaudhry Nisar felt emboldened by inside information he may have on the imminent return of the prime minister. Those agitating for change or pushing their demands within the PML-N are unlikely to create a party crisis when preparations are being made for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s return from surgery abroad.

What is clear, however, is that the PML-N leadership has badly mismanaged the party’s parliamentarians.

The budget session was an indication of a crisis brewing when the PML-N regularly struggled to maintain quorum in the National Assembly.

Rumours were rife that the party’s legislators from central and south Punjab were unhappy with the government’s agriculture policy and were seeking greater focus — and, inevitably, more resources — from the federal government.

It may have also been the case that with the PML-N leadership, and the Sharif family itself, under siege over the revelations in the Panama Papers, disaffected party MNAs sensed an opportunity to have their concerns addressed. But the immediate issues cannot hide longer-term and wider problems.

The tone set at the very top of the PML-N is one of exclusion and condescension towards party rank and file.

Mr Sharif is famously averse to meeting his party legislators and only seems to grant access at a time of political trouble or danger.

Consider how the prime minister reacted in the days after the Panama Papers became public: he was seen travelling around the country to party events and meeting legislators after a significant while.

That attitude of the prime minister also appears to have affected his inner circle of advisers and family. Be it Finance Minister Ishaq Dar or first daughter Maryam Nawaz, the focus has been more on the political fight over the Panama Papers since Mr Sharif left for London than addressing matters of governance.

Inside parliament, the budget session demonstrated the little interest cabinet members themselves take in the workings of parliament. That attitude must change. Not because it affects the PML-N, but because it affects how the country is being governed and how the institutions of democracy are run.

Perhaps the urgency the PML-N is showing in countering rumours of rifts within the party could be extended to the business of governing.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016