• PML-N big guns converge on Nawabshah in bid to win over Zardari
• PPP calls meeting of top decision-making forum on Karsaz blast anniversary
• Political observers say tiff is ‘anything but scripted’

FOR several days, political stakeholders and observers — both inside and outside parliament — have been asking the same question: is the current animosity between ruling allies PPP and PML-N a genuine tiff or a scripted dispute?

While speculation has been rife over what actually sparked the bad blood between both parties, the events of Wednesday night clearly indicated that the disagreement had caused enough ‘trouble in paradise’ for the ruling party to dispatch its ‘A-Team’ in an attempt to win over President Asif Ali Zardari.

Sources in the capital told Dawn that a delegation was heading to Nawabshah by special plane. Later, a statement from the Presidency said that Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq called on the president on Wednesday night.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi — who was earlier summoned to Karachi by the president to help — was also present in the meeting.

The development came swiftly on the heels of an announcement by the PPP that it would convene its Central Executive Committee — the party’s top decision-making forum — on Oct 18 to discuss the political situation in the country.

That the meeting was being called on the anniversary of the Karsaz bombing that targeted the late Benazir Bhutto’s homecoming parade in 2007 was being seen as quite significant, leading many to believe that the party may arrive to some momentous decision at the gathering.

While there were no details given by either side about the emergent meeting with President Zardari, many observers believed that the decision to send a team to mend fences with the PPP leader must have been endorsed by Nawaz Sharif after his younger brother prevailed upon him to help bring down political temperatures.

Origins of dispute

Before the PML-N dispatched its top men to Nawabshah, ostensibly to negotiate a rapprochement, background discussions with PML-N and PPP leaders indicated that the tiff was quite serious, and “anything but scripted”.

The PML-N camp was of the view that the crisis was precipitated when the PPP crossed the line by targeting Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

“Maryam Nawaz is PML-N’s redline,” a party insider said, quite categorically.

However, being a prudent political party, the PML-N is always ready to go the extra mile to settle a political score, and this is what exactly happening at the moment, the PML-N leader says.

The PPP, meanwhile, blames their ally of being so “touchy” that even a “prudent suggestion” like using the Benazir Income Support Programme to provide immediate relief to the flood victims was taken as an attack.

“So much so that CM Maryam entered the fight herself … and deliberately chose to tease the PPP by reviving the thorny issue of six canals to water Cholistan,” a party leader said.

An escalation of ‘hostilities’ in recent days, in the words of another PPP leader, indicated the party’s belief that it was necessary to match the PML-N harsh tone.

However, party sources maintain that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has deliberately kept his distance from the unfolding situation, choosing to remain silent on the matter — though he is closely monitoring developments.

Way forward?

Amid these tensions, the PPP is said to be receiving several proposals – from all quarters — about potentially reviewing it’s support for the PML-N in the Centre. Even in Punjab too, a proposal was floated that the PPP, with around a dozen seats in the Punjab Assembly, should sit on the opposition benches.

But as things stand, there seems to be little chance of the two allies disbanding their relationship, as those who have brokered this alliance will not allow it, insiders opined.

Although PPP lawmakers would love nothing better than to sit on the opposition benches, rather than being beholden to the whims and wishes of CM Maryam, they are seemingly content to flip the script and paint the acrimony as a cover for a ‘niece-uncle jealousy’.

In the words of Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) chief Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, both parties have been bitter rivals in the past, and may yet be rivals again when the next election rolls around.

“This time, the pitch of criticism is higher and even Bilawal and Maryam have gotten involved,” he noted.

When asked to comment on what may have triggered the bad blood, Mr Mehboob said that CM Maryam’s hyper-dynamism regarding the floods may have provoked a sense of competition, and to some extent, jealousy among leaders from Sindh.

“This competition between the two largest provincial governments is healthy and should be welcomed. However, the language used on both sides sometime crosses the line, and may leave lasting scars on interprovincial relations, he said, predicted that some kind of ceasefire would be on the cards with the intervention of Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.

However, in his view, by projecting the PPP as a genuine opposition force, the party may be trying to diminish the relevance of Imran Khan’s PTI as the main opposition.

This view is echoed by political commentator, Dr Rasul Bakhsh Raees, who sees it as an attempt to crowding out the PTI from political discourse.

The PPP thinks that it is good time for it to present itself as an opposition to the PML-N — allowing it to achieve two objectives — maintaining its political dominance while also trying to capture some of the PTI’s constituency in Punjab, he opined.