The opposition in the Balochistan Assembly on Monday turned down an invitation for a meeting with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is in Quetta in an effort to garner support for beleaguered Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, who currently faces a vote of no-confidence in the Balochistan Assembly.

"We have decided not to meet the Prime Minister", Leader of the Opposition Maulana Abdul Wasey said while speaking to DawnNews, explaining that he and his followers could not "ride two boats."

A bigger blow for Zehri and the flailing PML-N was the refusal of some of its own members to meet the chief executive.

"We are at the point of no return," Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, the former home minister for Balochistan, told DawnNews.

"I have a good relationship with the prime minister, but this is a political decision," Bugti added.

Last week, 14 MPAs on the opposition benches filed a motion of no confidence against Zehri. The house comprises 65 members, and 33 members are required for a successful push against the incumbent chief minister.

According to media reports, 27 MPAs have expressed support for the move against Zehri so far, six MPAs short of the 33 required to make the move successful.

The no-confidence motion is a move some political pundits consider not simple happenstance, but a well-thought-out power maneuver undertaken with one eye on the upcoming Senate elections.

With 11 Senators from Balochistan set to retire in March, there is an opportunity for the ruling PML-N to increase its Senate membership, where it currently only has 21 legislators out of the total 65.

To do so, however, it is imperative that the party retain its strength in the Balochistan Assembly, which will elect Senators to the upper house.

This is why recent reports of cracks forming within the party — to which CM Zehri himself belongs — is a major blow for the PML-N.

So far, the turmoil in the Balochistan Assembly has seen former home minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Sardar Sarfaraz Domki and Prince Ahmed Ali tender their resignations, with Bugti claiming on Wednesday that more will follow in days to come.

Judging by the mood setting in, it seems the CM will find it difficult to keep his parliamentary party united in these crucial times.

He has, however, started playing his own cards, with the sacking of PML-Q's Mir Amanullah Notezai as his special assistant on excise and taxation being his first counter-move.

In the midst of this crisis, Zehri did heave a sigh of relief when two of his government's coalition partners — the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and the National Party (NP) — publicly offered him some words of support.