The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which heads the ruling coalition, is in hot waters. So is Prime Minister Imran Khan after the opposition tabled a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly that appears to have challenged the prime minister in his view that all treasury Members of the National Assembly had won their seats owing to him – in his name alone – and that they realise this.

Khan is not the first person in Pakistan’s political history to have this belief in his overwhelming popularity. Heads of many popular parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have suffered from a similar delusion.

Having learnt from his experience of the 2013 elections, Imran Khan had embraced every turncoat from almost every party before the 2018 general elections. After the PTI became the single largest party with a slim margin, insufficient to form a government singlehandedly, Jehangir Tareen was assigned to bring independent MNAs to Bani Gala, where Khan welcomed them and they joined the PTI. The remaining deficit was covered by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q). That was how the PTI formed the government with Khan as the premier.

Soon after he became the chief executive of the country, the prime minister disconnected himself from the people, party leaders, legislators and the parliament. When his senior party members raised a voice against preferring newcomers and turncoats from other parties to them, they were either expelled from the party or hushed up. Whenever PTI leaders in the Punjab, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tried to point out to him the poor performance of chief ministers, he told them he won’t be ‘blackmailed’.

Following the submission of a no-confidence motion against him, however, he has started meeting his party’s legislators, other leaders and leaders of the PTI’s coalition partners: the MQM, the PML-Q, the BAP and the GDA. This may be an indication that he has finally sensed that those who won their seats with their own strength do carry some weight. He is also holding public meetings in the Punjab and the KP to motivate his supporters, of whom some have been disgruntled because of PTI governments’ performance.

There have been instances of similar behaviour in the past. Previously, Nawaz Sharif, too, had believed that all his partymen were dependent on him for their electoral victories, especially in the Punjab. The election results in 2018, appeared to prove him wrong, the questions about the transparency of the election process notwithstanding. The PTI is now ruling the Federation and the Punjab.

Soon after becoming the premier, the prime minister disconnected himself from the people, party leaders, legislators and the parliament. When senior party members raised a voice against preferring newcomers and turncoats from other parties to them, they were either expelled from the party or forced into silence.

Sharif, too, had considered himself the people’s choice, especially when he was in the government. On several occasions, electoral results proved him wrong. When he was arrested in the October 1999 coup, some of his close aides were also arrested. A majority left the party and the people did not take to the streets in large enough numbers to repulse the coup. His spouse, the late Begum Kulsoom Nawaz had to lead street protests with only a handful of supporters. In the 2002 general elections, the PML-N won around a couple of dozen seats of the National Assembly from the Punjab because most of the party ‘faces’ including the Chaudhris of Gujrat, Gohar Ayub Khan, Gen Abdul Majeed Malik, Mian Muhammad Azhar (father of Hammad Azhar) had either left the party or were not awarded tickets.

In 2006, Sharif landed in Islamabad where he was expecting a huge crowd to receive him. The ground swell he was expecting did not materialise and he was forcibly sent away.

In 2016-2017, when he faced corruption charges and was disqualified, Sharif realised that his strength lay with his supporters – party leaders and grassroots workers. After being deposed from his office, he connected with the masses and kept addressing well-attended public gatherings. His response to the chanting supporters was a trademark “Nawaz Sharif loves you, too”.

Sharif left for the UK from a Lahore’s jail for treatment but has been in constant contact with the people and his party’s leaders via video link.

In his absence, his daughter, the PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz took over the party reins and earned a reputation as a crowd-puller. She too, has shown signs of believing that all her party’s candidates in the Punjab, in various by-elections, have won their seats because of her. She trusts only a handful of people around her instead of listening to everybody in the party.

Benazir Bhutto, the twice prime minister, had also suffered from the same euphoria. When in power, she trusted only a few handpicked advisers. Though she attended the parliament’s sessions more regularly than most prime minister, she disconnected from the people and lesser leaders during her premiership. Her political secretary Naheed Khan and her network of leaders within the party would not let many leaders and old party workers meet Benazir Bhutto. Whenever she was deposed from her office, she connected to the people and sincere party leaders who extended exemplary support to her. What distinguished her from other leaders was that during her exile she would respond to each email and letter she received from party leaders and workers. Still, under her watch the party lost leaders like Dr Mubashir Hassan, Dr Ghulam Hussain and Malik Mairaj Khalid and the party’s popularity declined, especially in the Punjab.

Before them all, there was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. His party still rules Sindh province. His popularity amongst the masses was unmatchable. It was claimed in the 1970s that “If Bhutto fields an electric pole in the election, the pole will win”. This claim was tested in Lahore in 1975, when Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar, the former Punjab governor, sought the party ticket for a constituency vacated by the-then Punjab chief minister Hanif Ramay. After he was refused the ticket, Khar, who claimed to be Bhutto’s true political heir, contested the constituency as an independent. Sher Muhammad Bhatti, hailing from a humble background, won the seat with a huge margin.

However, ZA Bhutto’s cousin, Mumtaz Bhutto, Malik Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Dr Mubashir Hasan, JA Rahim and several other stalwarts left the party during the first PPP government. When Bhutto was arrested in 1977, many of the party leaders suffered arrest and persecution. Some of the party workers set themselves ablaze in protest. His spouse, the late Begum Nusrat Bhutto, put up some resistance but she and Benazir Bhutto were soon arrested and no one was left to lead and motivate the masses. Bhutto’s arrogance is seen to have deprived him and the party of the services of several significant leaders.

The writer is a senior journalist, teacher of journalism, and analyst. He tweets at @BukhariMubasher