Confusion among PML-N leaders over seat adjustments in Punjab as polls draw closer

• Ahsan Iqbal says PML-N would enter seat adjustments in Punjab.
  
• Ex-minister says must "get effective success" for country's prosperity.
  
• Latif says “PML-N neither entered alliance nor seat adjustment".

With reports of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) seat adjustment with Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) rife, the leaders of the former ruling party seem to be confused over joining hands with political competitors in Punjab, which is its stronghold.

PML-N's senior leader Javed Latif Sunday rubbished reports of "any alliances or seat adjustment", claiming that his party would contest solo in the upcoming general elections in Punjab.

However, another bigwig of the Nawaz Sharif-led party, Ahsan Iqbal is of the view that their party would enter seat adjustments in Punjab as well as in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, in order to steer the country on the track of development.

With less than two months left in countrywide polls, PML-N is busy in electioneering ahead of the announcement of election schedule, reportedly seeking electoral alliances and seat adjustments with different parties across the country.

According to reports, PML-N did not want to enter into seat adjustments with any party but due to insistence from "powerful quarters" it has agreed on it.

It may be noted that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said earlier today that "we know who helps these alliances form. We are saying that Nawaz Sharif is being favoured."

PPP — which is a former ally of the Nawaz-led party — has been continuously slamming the PML-N for trying to "come to power for a fourth" time.

Earlier this week, reports circulated that PML-N had succeeded in striking a seat adjustment deal with the IPP for the upcoming polls slated to be held on February 8, 2024.

Last week, similar reports emerged after PML-N supremo Nawaz visited the residence of PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in Lahore after a gap of nearly 15 years, that the two parties have agreed to enter seat adjustment for two National Assembly and three Punjab Assembly constituencies.

However, addressing a press conference today (Sunday) Latif said: “Neither PML-N has entered into an [electoral] alliance nor there will be seat adjustment with any party in Punjab.”

Responding to a question, the PML-N leader said that he did not like to respond to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s recent statements as even his father Asif Ali Zardari denies what the former says.

“If his father does not take Bilawal's statements seriously then why should we?”

The PML-N leader further said that his party was still following the charter of democracy.

On the other hand Iqbal said while speaking in Geo News programme, that electoral politics require a party to gain a strong mandate and in order to resolve the current "economic crisis", it is important to get an effective success.

"Secondly, all those parties consenting to our agenda of progress, we should try to get a large scale political approval for the agenda, together with them [the parties]," he said.

Iqbal said that the PML-N will try to take as much parties as possible on board in Punjab, like in Balochistan, Sindh and KP, to Pakistan's economic revival and progress.

Speaking about the possibility of an electoral alliance with PPP, the PML-N leader said that the Bilawal-led party is currently busy in criticism.

he said that the PPP didn't disagree with the ruling party for the 16 months of governance.

Iqbal said that the former PML-N government narrowly escaped from a default situation in the country and if the same approach is not followed, there could be a risk of another such situation.

"To run Pakistan we need peace and stability, which could only be achieved if we establish a broadbased consensus," he added.