Battle lines drawn for Feb 8 as PML-N refuses 'seat adjustment with PPP at any level'

• "I think we should go solo in Punjab," says PML-N's Javed Latif.
• He says PML-N leadership to start electioneering in a day or two.
• Bilawal Bhutto, however, foresees a "coalition govt" after polls.  

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will not be entering into a seat adjustment arrangement or an alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a top party leader said Tuesday, ahead of the February 8 elections.

Addressing a press conference, PML-N’s outspoken leader Mian Javed Latif, who is considered close to the party's Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, announced: “There will be no seat adjustment with PPP at any level.”

His remarks came a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, in view of the current political landscape in the country, anticipated the formation of a coalition government after forthcoming elections.

Bilawal, in an interview with a private news channel, said: “Whether it is led by PML-N or any other party, the next government will be a coalition [regime].”

In November last year, his father, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, had also predicted the formation of a “national unity government” after the polls. He was of the view that no single party would be able to secure a two-thirds majority in the upcoming elections.

In the presser, Latif said that the party's office-bearers were holding corner meetings in their respective constituencies, adding that the former ruling party’s central leadership would kick-start electioneering in a day or two.

“I [also] think we should go solo in upcoming Punjab polls.”

Lauding courts, the PML-N leader sought punishments for those involved in the May 9 riots ahead of the upcoming elections in the country.

The May 9 riots were triggered almost across the country after the deposed prime minister's arrest in the £190 million settlement case. Hundreds of PTI workers and senior leaders were put behind bars for their involvement in violence and attacks on military installations.

During the protests, the miscreants targeted the civil and military installations including — Jinnah House and the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. The military termed May 9 "Black Day" and decided to try the protesters under the Army Act.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PPP and the PML-N were the main allies in the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led regime that ruled the country after the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan via a vote of no-confidence for around 16 months.

Claiming that the incarcerated PTI founder was being facilitated, the PML-N leader said that Imran Khan had threatened the ECP members.