LAHORE: PPP central Punjab secretary general Hassan Murtaza has ruled out any electoral alliance between his party and the PML-N in the upcoming elections, but hinted at seat adjustments between the parties.

At a press conference here on Monday, he said all the component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would contest the polls on their respective election symbols.

He said former president Asif Ali Zardari would meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif would also join the meeting through video link to discuss future line of action following dissolution of the Punjab Assembly and the possibility of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) rejoining the National Assembly.

He termed PTI Chairman Imran Khan a “democratic dictator”, saying he committed “political murder” of Punjab by dissolving the provincial assembly. He said Mr Khan wanted a “safe haven” from where he could use foul language against democratic political institutions and that’s why he was not dissolving the KP Assembly.

He told a questioner that consultations between the PPP and the PML-N were going on for nominating the caretaker chief minister of Punjab as the latter won’t decide it alone. He said unlike the PTI, the parties would announce “non-controversial” names for the slot.

He said Imran’s “vision” could be gauged from the fact that he nominated a serving bureaucrat for the slot of caretaker chief minister.

Mr Murtaza said former governor Chaudhry Sarwar was a progressive person, who was thinking about his political future.

He said the politics was a game of possibilities, and Asif Ali Zardari was an expert in picking the possibilities.

He said those who criticising the PPP’s victory in Sindh local elections were biased.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2023