LAHORE, Sept 13: As post-presidential elections political realignments take place, the rump PML-Q remains divided and indecisive over its future course of action both at the Centre and Punjab, say party insiders.

However, those favouring going the PML-N way have had slightly upper hand in recent party meetings, where the Chaurdhys from Gujrat had a tough time defending their “personal enmity” with Sharif Brothers being the last stumbling block in “going back to Muslim League family”.

According to party sources, for the first time since its inception, the party had got a chance of debating and deciding its own future. The current debate revolves around whether the party should take a long-term view of its “political future” and decide accordingly or again “get into hit-and-run politics” by looking for “short-term gains at the risk of political future”.

“Those favouring an alliance, if not complete merger, with the PML-N are arguing that the party had to carry political baggage of Gen Pervez Musharraf for the last six years and suffered an irreparable loss,” said one of its central leaders. With Asif Ali Zardari taking political and moral summersaults in run up to the presidential polls, especially on the judges’ issue, should the party align itself with the PPP and retagged as a “bunch of opportunists looking ministerial slots” or try to recover some political ground by taking high moral ground, he added.

“The PPP does not need the PML-Q at the centre, its relevance is limited to Punjab,” he said. Even in Punjab, the so-called relevance was limited to being instrument of change (read destabilisation). Should the party present itself to the PPP, help it to get Punjab government and pay political cost of benefiting the PPP? For once, there was a debate in the party that is this “moral in nature,” he insisted.

The PPP took a moral high ground by conceding Punjab to the PML-N after the polls, said another insider. Now, it wanted using the PML-Q to kick the PML-N out, and besmirch the PML-Q reputation as a party with no moral values. At least a major chunk of, what was left of it, the party was in favour of either going the PML-N way or, at least, keeping an independent posture and avoid becoming agent for ‘destabilisation’ in Punjab.

Conceding that the party may lose some more members if the PPP went whole hog after the Punjab government, he said that desertion would now hardly matter. The party also knew that its numerical strength and political influence would go further down in March when Senate elections would take place. So, its attention now was riveted on morality of issues and quality of its human resources and level of criticism. Especially, after surge in popularity of the PML-N after its pursuing moral dimension of certain national issues, the PML-Q was caught in SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of what matters to whom and where popular sentiment lies, he said.