LARKANA, March 11: Schisms in the Pakistan People’s Party have come to the surface, casting pronounced effect on the party’s efforts to rope in elect-ables, influential landlords, political middlemen and bloc voters to recoup vote power in its traditional stronghold, which has suffered a serious dent due to abysmally poor performance by the government and its highly controversial decisions.

Perhaps the schism was felt more poignantly when Nawab Sardar Khan Chandio, influential chieftain of Chandio tribe, joined the party on Feb 17. The chieftain made the formal announcement at a ceremony in Qambar town in the presence of party’s provincial leadership in which Magsi brothers — Sindh Minister for Food Mir Nadir Magsi and MNA Mir Aamir Khan Magsi — were conspicuous by their absence.

The party considers Chandio so valuable a catch that right from Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro to Senator Aajiz Dhamrah, provincial ministers Agha Siraj and Ayaz Soomro ensured their presence at his joining ceremony and despite visible efforts to suppress their pleasure they could not help it.

The fissures further became evident from a number of advertisements placed in the following day’s local Sindhi daily by Manzoor Marfani, former nazim of Warah taluka, once close aide of late Nawab Shabbir Ahmed Chandio.

The ads had no word of felicitation for his former mentor’s joining the PPP as is customary in Sindh politics but instead they contained pictures of Magsi brothers and showered praise on them for their ‘unprecedented efforts for developing Warah town’.

Many party leaders, late joiners and new comers who were close to the Magsi brothers also chose to stay away from the ceremony. Among them were; Hakros of Qambar who had lately joined PPP and Imdad Abbasi of Sujawal who was removed as taluka president of PPP Sujawal reportedly because of his closeness to Mir Nadir Ali Magsi.

When the chief minister was bubbling with joy over Chandio and claiming his addition would not only impact local politics but also the whole province because of his influence over his widespread tribe, the observers noticed the chief minister’s joy was eclipsed by the absence of Nawabzada Mushtaque Chandio, uncle of Chandio chieftain in the public meeting.

According to some unconfirmed reports, Mushtaque Chandio is considering quitting PPP which may seriously dent Sardar Khan Chandio’s influence.

The PPP has always swept polls in undivided Larkana but of late the party’s popularity has dropped which showed itself in constant decline in the number of total polled votes.

A cursory look on the results of different seats in general elections of 2002 is suffice to prove the point. A PPP worker, Khalid Iqbal Memon, obtained only 36,929 votes to win NA-206 Larkana-III while his opponent Syed Asghar Hussain Rashidi of National Alliance got 31,841 votes. Overall turnout of voters was only 28.1 per cent.

In general elections of 2008, the assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto swelled the ranks of PPP voters by manifolds.

The party fielded Nawabzada Mir Amir Khan Magsi on the same seat (NA-206) against Nawabzada Sardar Khan Chandio of Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

The turnout suddenly jumped from 28.1 per cent to 52.13 per cent and Nawabzada Mir Amir Khan Magsi secured 49,524 votes while his rival got 23,545 votes.

It is premature to predict who will get party tickets for the NA-206 and the seats of provincial assembly in this constituency. In general elections of 2002, PPP had faced defeat in Shahdadkot on PS-40 (Larkana-VI).

PPP candidate Ghulam Akbar got only 15,204 votes and his opponent Sultan Ahmed Khuhawar (independent) secured 16,157 votes to win the seat.

Another seat in the constituency is PS-39 (Larkana-V) of Qambar town which was won by Ghulam Mujadid Isran of PPP with 14,233 votes while his opponent Ali Hassan Hakro (now in PPP) had got 12,381 votes.

On PS-42 (Larkana-VIII), PPP’s Najamuddin Abro had secured 20,271 votes while his opponent Fakir Pervaiz Ahmed of National Alliance had obtained 5,090 votes.

The NA-206 and the three provincial assembly seats, PS-39, PS-40 and PS-42, are very much interconnected in terms of voters’ trend and results. The PPP’s popularity which was already ebbing because of the rampant corruption and the government’s mishandling of natural disasters nosedived after its passage of the Sindh Peoples’ Local Government Act.

The recent repeal of the controversial law has done little to repair the party’s image.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional has made the most of the SPLGA and made deep inroads in PPP’s strongholds. It is to be seen whether Magsi brothers have the capability to survive in politics without party tickets in case they part ways with the party.