Fazl to host Shahbaz, eight other PDM leaders for dinner tonight in Islamabad.
Fazl, Shahbaz to discuss PDM’s future course and strategy for the days to come.
Both leaders to exchange views on possible inclusion of the PPP and ANP into the PDM’s fold.
ISLAMABAD: PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman will meet today (Friday) to discuss the strategy and future course for the Opposition alliance.
Sources said the Sharif will travel to Islamabad today where a meeting is scheduled between the two and leaders of eight other PDM parties.
The PDM is scheduled to hold an important meeting of party chiefs tomorrow and take important decisions on whether the PPP and the ANP will be taken back in the alliance’s fold or not.
Fazl will host Shahbaz and the others for dinner tonight where the two are expected to discuss the PDM’s strategy for the coming days and the PPP, ANP’s possible inclusion into the alliance.
On the other hand, as per reports, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is also establishing contacts with PDM parties. The PPP chairperson recently went to Dubai where he met Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) chief Akhtar Mengal.
The PML-N president has been focusing his efforts on bringing the PPP and the ANP back into the PDM fold to put pressure on the government once again.
According to veteran Geo News anchor and journalist Shahzeb Khanzada, the gulf in the PML-N leadership seems to be widening over the party’s narrative and other issues.
Khanzada said during his show ‘Aaj Khanzada Kay Sath’ that the group in the party being led by Maryam wants to move forward with her father’s narrative.
On the other hand, another group that favours Shahbaz’s stance of reconciliation, is backing the younger Sharif’s stance of reconciliation with the PPP and the powers that be, to win the general elections 2023.
Another bone of contention between the two leaders is, as per sources, the issue of the PPP leaving the PDM. Shahbaz has taken exception to the rigid stance adopted by Maryam and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on the issue.
As per sources, Shahbaz had been displeased over how the issue was handled and wondered why the PPP was pressurised if it was not in favour of resigning from the assemblies.
PPP, ANP can rejoin PDM if they apologise: Fazl
Earlier this week, Fazl had said the PPP and ANP can rejoin the alliance if they apologised to the PDM for going against its decisions.
The PDM chief’s comments came during his meeting with PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif at the latter’s residence in Lahore on Tuesday.
Fazl, addressing a press conference after the meeting, said both parties — PPP and ANP — had been given sufficient time to get back to the PDM leadership, but they have not done so.
“There are currently no proposals to invite PPP and ANP at the PDM meeting on May 29,” he had said. However, during the meeting, the leaders will decide the future of PPP and ANP in the alliance.
The fallout
On April 6, the ANP, and on April 11, the PPP had parted ways with the PDM after the latter served it a show-cause notice — as PPP had gotten Yousuf Raza Gilani appointed as the leader of the Opposition in the Senate, going against PDM’s decisions, and ANP supported it.
PPP was asked to explain its move to get appointed its candidate, Gillani, as Leader of Opposition in Senate, without first obtaining the consent of parties of the Opposition alliance.
ANP, on the other hand, was issued a notice for supporting the PPP in its efforts to get Gillani designated by roping in senators from the government’s ally Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) to complete the numbers required.