t was Moonis Elahi who had insisted his father, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, climb the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) bandwagon after the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan to grab the most sought-after slot of Punjab chief minister. The admission came from the ageing politician from Gujrat, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, during an interview recently. The revelation by the father-son duo has irked the party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who had assured Asif Zardari that his party will side with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) to form the government if offered the top seat in the province.

Moonis Elahi has since made the shocking revelation that it was none other than the former army chief, Gen Qamar Bajwa, who advised him to go along with the PTI. The claim did not sit well with most PTI leaders and supporters who have been criticising Gen Bajwa for his role in sending the PTI government packing by allegedly withdrawing his support.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PMLQ) cashed in on the political situation that evolved after the historic no-confidence motion against Imran Khan. Although as speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi had already been enjoying power during the reign of Usman Buzdar, he had asserted that Buzdar was incompetent and retaining him risked ruining the image of the PTI in the Punjab. Elahi had remained at the centre stage, trying to divert funds to his political support base to help party lawmakers solve their ‘problems’. Becoming chief minister once again had been his dream; now he had the chance to strengthen his party.

This time again, his major focus was key areas of his vote bank– Gujrat and the surrounding districts. He has allocated significant development funds inviting the ire of his ally, the PTI. But that hasn’t bothered him.

Be that as it may, he had never believed that a time would come when Imran Khan would ask him to dissolve the assembly as a final blow to the PDM regime to catalyse the process for the next general elections. Parvez Elahi had never wanted Imran Khan to quit the provincial assemblies in the KP and the Punjab. He had advised Khan to stay in the assemblies and win more support in the PMLNs stronghold by launching more development projects. That was the point of replacing Usman Buzdar.

Even at this critical juncture, Parvez Elahi is confident that the “Punjab government is not going anywhere in the next four months”. Even though he has assured Imran Khan that he would dissolve the assembly within no time if and when asked by Khan. Meanwhile, Moonis Elahi has expressed his wish to announce the upcoming budget before dissolving the assembly.

Relations between the PTI and the PML-Q are turning sour as the latter does not want the Punjab Assembly to go at the whim of Imran Khan, who thinks that his popularity may start to decline if he fails to force early elections. His aggressive street protests have not been able to force the PDM government to show flexibility. The PDM realises that Imran Khan has regained some popularity since his ouster from power and submitting to the pressure he has mounted would prove a disaster for all PDM parties in the upcoming elections.

The PML-Q, like many other parties, is finding that it is very difficult to get along with Imran Khan. The problem had existed when Khan was prime minister. His allies would list complaints regarding his attitude. While Chaudhrys continue trying to persuade him that dissolving the assemblies is not a good idea, Imran Khan, according to Shah Mahmood Qureshi, plans to “dissolve the assemblies in the KP and the Punjab in the next few days”.

The Chaudhrys have gotten more than they had thought they would for a party with merely 10 seats in the Punjab Assembly and five in the National Assembly. Having been in an alliance with the PTI since 2018, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has been a critic of the poor performance of Usman Buzdar. The PTI Punjab leadership and supporters will never be happy with PML-Q being all powerful in the largest province of the country despite a small number of seats. Imran Khan’s decision to dissolve the Punjab Assembly against the PML-Q’s desire is likely to have a bad impact on the alliance. But Moonis and his father will try their best to remain aligned with the PTI till the next general elections, in case they don’t get another nod from their esteemed ‘patrons’.

The next general elections are crucial for all political parties in the Punjab, keeping in view the historic popularity graph of the PTI. Many in the PML-N are worried about the next elections. They have pinned hopes on the powers that be to support the PDM parties in return for agreeing to oust Imran Khan from power in March 2022. There is an impression that they never wanted to dislodge the PTI government that was losing popularity through its poor performance. The PML-N leaders are worried that the Punjab could slip out of their hands in the next general elections, unless they find an out of the box solution. “We are paying the price of helping the establishment get rid of Imran Khan, whose popularity was at a low ebb at the time,” a PML-N leader has remarked.

Imran Khan, meanwhile, has softened his rhetoric against the establishment after some of his close aides advised him against targetting the new leadership. He has also called upon his supporters to avoid being harsh towards the powers that be.

The upcoming elections will witness new political dynamics and alignments aimed at countering the one political party which is said to rank high on the popularity graph. But then there are those who believe popularity alone cannot get one power in a country like Pakistan.

The writer is a senior broadcast journalist, and has worked with several news channels in Pakistan