Following a largely unexpected defeat in the KP local bodies elections last month, the PTI leadership has started receiving a barrage of complaints and criticism from its ministers in the province. During a recently held high-level party huddle, Federal Minister for Defence Pervaiz Khattak reportedly expressed his anger over the government’s gas policy in KP where distribution has been curtailed, resulting in a harsh exchange of words between h and Prime Minister Imran Khan. Although Khattak has denied that any such incident took place, that multiple news outlets reported varying versions of the same argument means something out of the ordinary did take place during the meeting. On Friday, another KP PTI MNA, the relatively more outspoken Noor Alam Khan, while speaking in the National Assembly highlighted similar energy-related problems he is facing in his constituency of Peshawar, going on to say that those sitting in the first three rows of the house should be placed on the ECL.
It is important to note here that both Pervaiz Khattak and Noor Alam Khan are seasoned politicians for whom any major leadership role in the country is secondary to ensuring they are the number one contender in their constituency in any electoral contest. Apart from experience, something that there is no shortage of between the two of them, remaining popular and electable also requires a fairly stable on-ground situation, one where constituents aren’t up in arms over their inability to afford basic necessities due to high inflation. Additionally, the absence of development projects due to lack of funds makes it all the more difficult to pacify them. The PTI has been in power in KP for nine years and is the only party to be elected for two consecutive terms in the history of the province. For its veteran member parliamentarians to start crying foul over the state of their constituencies with close to two years still to go indicates that the PTI party ticket has lost its value considerably. There are likely to be more disgruntled politicians from KP who speak up in the coming days. This does not seem like a temporary storm that the PTI just has to weather; the party leadership has to address and control this situation immediately before it completely spirals out of control and it faces a much tougher election season than it already does.
