LAHORE: PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Monday did not accompany his elder brother for the Mansehra rally despite the party’s official announcement of their joint visit there.

On the contrary, Shehbaz chose to spend the day at Lahore’s NA-123 constituency from where he is contesting the election.

The PML-N official had announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the party supremo Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and the chief organiser Maryam Nawaz would go to Mahsehra on Monday and address the rally. However, the programme appears to have changed at the last minute as the party spokesperson offered no reason in this regard.

Speculations in the party are rife that the role of both the father and the son – Shehbaz and Hamza – has been reduced to a ‘limited level’ in the Feb 8 election campaign with major rallies to be addressed by the party supremo and ‘his successor’ daughter Maryam Nawaz.

Neither Shehbaz, nor Hamza invited to address four rallies held so far

Hamza Shehbaz’s position has reportedly been ‘downgraded’ from that of a central party leader to a mere party candidate as his cousin (Maryam Nawaz) is mainly pulling the party strings as she conveniently reduced his (Hamza) role in the award of party tickets as well.

Since the launch of the PML-N election campaign, Maryam addressed four rallies, two of them along with her father. And in none of them neither Shehbaz nor Hamza was invited to address.

Since a ‘humiliating’ defeat at the hands of PTI-backed candidate Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in July 2022 during the election of chief minister, Hamza Shehbaz has virtually been sidelined by the Maryam and company from the PML-N politics.

Last month, Mr Hamza had asked his uncle, Nawaz Sharif, not to ignore party loyalists in the distribution of tickets for general and reserved seats. The PML-N leadership’s decision to nominate women, either from influential families or the upper echelons of society, for reserved seats had sparked discontent among women workers, who questioned the criteria for the selection process.

On the other hand, since Shehbaz Sharif is not considered a ‘crowd puller’ he seems content with seeing someone else in the party doing this job.

On Monday, Mr Shehbaz during his address to the workers at his constituency also responded to PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto’s onslaught on him and his brother. “Those (Bilawal) who do not have water in their province talk about water issues in Lahore. Here not only water is available but also food,” Shehbaz said.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2024