AS part of the series of inherently self-revealing riddles in the run-up to elections, it wouldn’t be too difficult to guess really what makes Mian Shahbaz Sharif so unhappy.

Is it his suspicion that the presidency and its alleged partners in crime are trying to defame his dynasty by planting “false” news in the media? Or was the show of passion put up by Shahbaz last week directed at the media generally?

The two papers he and his aide Pervez Rashid waved at the press conference in Lahore belonged to the same media group. Was the protest then aimed at a specific media group?

The answers to all three questions may be in the affirmative even if Shahbaz Sharif appears to concentrate for now on blaming the “defamation” attempt on the presidency.

Shahbaz’s expression of shock at the Sharif family’s name being dragged into a controversy is consistent with past PML-N reactions. It will have to be said, however, that a certain kind of pre-election, actually pre-power, restlessness and impatience appears to have crept into the conduct of the PML-N.

This unease coincides with the reports which place the Sharifs and their party clearly ahead of other contestants in the May 11 general elections.

It is the PPP which is often called an ideal party of the opposition. But there is no dearth of critics who are wary of the Sharif habit of isolating themselves from popular aspirations and charting a solo route after they have used the people to get to power.

Apart from Shahbaz’s much highlighted single-handed feats as the Punjab chief minister, there are examples from Nawaz Sharif’s last term as prime minister which support this argument.

Then, Nawaz had offered his detractors plenty of reason to paint him as a soloist by chasing the post of amir-ul-momineen. Later on, he preferred not to press for the coveted title, instead taking on Gen Pervez Musharraf in a power tussle, which, to some pragmatists, was again rooted in Nawaz’s desire for not sharing authority with anyone.

Over the last few years, since the military coup of October 1999, Nawaz Sharif settled into playing a mature, mellowed politician no more drawn to crude skirmishes.

When his party thought that these small battles built into the larger war could no longer be avoided, it was not Nawaz but Shahbaz Sharif who was to fight on these minor fronts with the help of some other vocal PML-N politicians.

Nawaz, meanwhile, was built up as a man who was above these petty fights, as a politician who was naturally disposed to be the next leader of Pakistan. His role as a mature opposition politician did win him plaudits from everyone around right until a new election necessitated some changes in his approach.

The Nawaz Sharif that we see today is different from the Nawaz Sharif who was on display until recently, who drew praise for his remarkably controlled performance as a decent opposition leader committed to the continuation of democracy. What we have before us now is a politician keen not only on living up to his billing as the next ruler.

Firing a salvo at the PPP and the alleged anti-Sharif designs of the presidency is no doubt an essential part of the PML-N strategy — with Shahbaz once again typecast in the shouting role.

Nawaz’s main focus is on sprucing up the party for the election. His job is to get the party’s nuances right and ensure that only the right kind, and not necessarily the deserving kind, of people are there to carry the PML-N brief forward, right up to the prime minister’s house where the pollsters say another term awaits Mian Sahib.

The way it has been projected over the last few months, it is a foregone conclusion. Consequently, the PML-N leadership is required to not allow an election to intervene in their march towards power.

And this is where enters a Nawaz Sharif who, contrary to his image of a restrained opposition leader, exposes himself to some unrefined criticism from those he must break away from in his quest for as untroubled a journey to power as possible.

There have been quite a number of complaints by politicians who accuse the PML-N of ditching them, now when they were expecting to be paid for standing by the Sharifs over the last few years. Those who have been snubbed by the PML-N’s refusal to have them as its election candidates include people from within the party and its allies outside.

A source of much amusement has been the PML-L group whose members have retained their identity as the remnants of Musharraf while so many big names associated with the general are the naturalised democrats of today having been processed by various parties, including the PML-N.

As pleasing as the snub to the Likeminded, etc, may sound to the popular ear, it is also a source of fear, a sign of the same old arrogance that has marked previous rules by the same men in Islamabad and Lahore.

The paper-waving, angry Shahbaz in Lahore last week may have been symbolic of a return to the old ways since it found a Sharif complaining about the media after a phase when the media guns by and large remained trained on the PPP men in government and others sharing power with the PPP.

Shahbaz did have an option to not make it just a personal issue. He could have given his response a broader basis and greater purpose by questioning the process of scrutiny of the election candidates by the polls officials.

He chose not to speak as a senior political leader nor as the Punjab president of a party whose members were having a tough time getting past the returning officers. He chose to speak only as a scion of a family which has its sights set on another term in power.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.