BAHAWALPUR, Oct 14: The post-election scenario can pose a serious challenge to district Nazim and PPP leader Tariq Cheema in handling the district government affairs.

Under his leadership, Bahawalpur district was considered a stronghold of the PPP, but the party suffered a setback when it lost a majority of national and provincial assembly seats here.

The NA-185 seat went to National Alliance’s Farooq Azam Malik, a former PPP leader, who had differences with Cheema since long. Farooq Malik had opposed Cheema in the elections for the slot of district Nazim and supported his rival, Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi.

The PPP leadership had not awarded ticket to Mr Malik for NA-185 due to his differences with Tariq Cheema. He then managed to get ticket from the National Alliance and won the elections.

The PPP had awarded its ticket to a new face, Sardar Muhammad Husain, the former Bar president of the Bahawalpur high court.

The Bahawalpur Ittehad, a non-political alliance, was formed by Syed Tasneem Nawaz Gardezi, Tabish Alwari and others to pick up the best leader for the slot of district Nazim. The Ittehad nominated Tariq Cheema as a district Nazim candidate. Mian Salahuddin did not join the Ittehad and became himself a candidate.

As it was expected, Tariq Cheema did not field any candidate against Mr Gardezi on NA-186. But, Mian Riaz Husain Peerzada by making use of his old contacts with PPP leaders managed a party (PPP) ticket for Syed Mubashar Zaman Shah only to divide votes of his arch rival, Tasneem Gardezi. Peerzada succeeded in his planning and won the NA-186 seat by a thin margin of 3,000 votes.

To take revenge of their defeat for the district Nazim seat, Nawab Salahuddin, Riaz Peerzada and Farooq Malik got themselves united against the PPP. Their unity proved harmful for PPP candidates.

For some unknown reasons, the PPP did not field its candidate on NA-183 (Ahmadpur East tehsil). And the seat went to PML-QA’s Ali Hasan Gilani with the support of Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi. Gilani is a new face and a stepbrother of Ahmadpur East tehsil Naib Nazim Syed Samiul Hasan Gilani. Sami was elected Naib Nazim with the backing of Nawab Salahuddin, but he has now joined the district Nazim group.

However, the PPP under Tariq Cheema’s patronage succeeded in winning two seats in Yazman and Khanqah Sharif. The NA-187 and NA-184 seats were won by Aitzaz Ahsan and Malik Amir Yar Warren, respectively. Aitzaz defeated the PML-N candidate and Malik Warren the PML-QA nominee. In all, the PPP secured two NA seats out of five and four PA seats out of 10 in the district.

Now Nazim Tariq Cheema will have to face difficulties in running the affairs of the district government smoothly in the presence of three opposition MNAs and six MPAs.

A confrontation-like situation might be created in the district should opposition MNAs and MPAs decide to evolve a joint strategy against the district Nazim. The tug of war situation could hinder the ongoing and future development projects in Bahawalpur district.