GUJRAT: The Pakistan People’s Party is making hectic efforts to impress voters in NA-65 (Lalamusa-Dinga) in Gujranwala region to ensure the victory of party stalwart Qamar Zaman Kaira in the constituency.

For the purpose, party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and a senior leader Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan have participated in the election campaign of Mr Kaira, addressing a public meeting in Mungowal, a small town which was included into the constituency in the recent delimitation.

Though some other former party lawmakers of the PPP are also in the run from various NA and PA seats of Gujranwala region, the sources in the party say that Mr Kaira may get advantage in the constituency because of his hard work, the party’s support and fielding of a newcomer,Naseer Abbas Sidhu, by the rival PML-N, instead of its old guard Jaafar Iqbal Fatta Bhand, a former state minister. Sindhu is a brother of Chief of Air Staff Zaheeruddin Baber Sidhu.

The PTI nominee Wajahat Shah, nephew of ex-MNA Faizul Hassan Shah of Kulewal group, is also posing a challenge to Kaira, they add.

Analysts see tough tripartite contest as aspirants of PML-N, PTI also working hard

Lalamusa has been the only urban town of Punjab where Mr Kaira’s first cousin Nadeem Asghar Kaira had become a chairman of municipal committee on the PPP ticket in 2016. Nadeem Kaira is now a PPP aspirant for PP-33 (Lalamusa).

Meanwhile, erosion of the PPP’s vote bank in the central Punjab is a major challenge for Qamar Kaira in NA-65.

However, some local influential groups previously aligned with the Jaafar Iqbal of the PML-N, are now openly supporting Kaira after the former was denied party ticket.Mr Kaira had stood third in the last two elections (2013 and 2018) as PPP nominee. However, after being inducted as an advisor to the prime minister in the Shahbaz Sharif led federal cabinet, he launched several uplift schemes in the area and made political contacts, effectively using his 16-month tenure for improving his chances for 2024 polls.

Kaira belongs to the Gujjar clan which is a major component of the population in NA-65. However, at least five union councils from Mungowal side have recently been added to the constituency, where the Jutt clan is dominant. That was the reason Mr Kaira had requested Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, who belongs to an influential Jutt family of the area, to campaign for him. Mr Ahsan spent a couple of days in his native area of Mungowal, campaigning for Kaira and helped the latter in making contacts with the political groups of the area.

The political analysts believe that it is a three-way contest between the nominees of the PML-N, PTI and PPP in NA-65 and any of these parties can win the seat.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2024