LAHORE: Hardly a week after announcement that differences between coalition partners have been resolved, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday took on those close to Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the PTI government cannot deliver until he gets rid of “hypocrites and sycophants” around him.

This is the second time that the leadership of the PML-Q, an important ally of the PTI government in the Centre and Punjab, pointed finger at those close to the prime minister, holding them responsible for the PTI’s failure to run the affairs of the government smoothly. This time the message seems to be categorical.

“Imran Khan has good intentions. He has not learnt political gimmickry (like others). I want to give him an advice to stay away from sycophants and hypocrites around him, and do not let them hang around,” Chaudhry Shujaat said on Wednesday on his return from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah.

According to him, these hypocrites present his party (PML-Q)’s “sincere advice” to PM Khan for improving the governance in a “negative way”. The PML-Q chief also advised PM Khan against being egocentric. “In the past I had warned Nawaz Sharif against indulging in narcissism but he did not come out of it,” he said, adding it was interesting to see that some sycophants who were with Nawaz Sharif were still in power today.

Similarly, Chaudhry Shujaat said he had also advised Gen Pervez Musharraf not to link seminary students with Taliban. “For six months Musharraf followed my advice and used the word extremist instead. Afterwards, he started calling seminary students Taliban.”

Earlier, the PML-Q had said that there were “some naive players” in PM Khan’s team who were unable to give him the right advice. A source in the PML-Q told Dawn that the Chaudhrys of Gujrat were not happy with those elements in the PTI government who did their best to ensure a distance between the premier and the PML-Q leadership.

“The PML-Q believes that such elements feed wrong information to the premier about its leadership and that has created a trust deficit between them (PM Khan and the Chaudhrys).”

The PML-Q recently agreed to bury the hatchet after the PTI government promised to give it due share in power.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2020