Ch Pervez Elahi’s joining the PTI was perhaps a foregone conclusion, after his failure to take over the PTI, and the PTI’s giving him the Presidency of the party, an office vacant since Javed Hashmi left the party, has not been confirmed. The is not the only issue. What is perhaps more pressing is what happens to the 10 outgoing PML(Q) MPAs that joined the PTI along with him. With the fight for PTI tickets likely to be fierce, these outgoing MPAs will face opposition for tickets, not least from the 2018 PTI ticket-holders they defeated. Ch Pervaiz will probably not be able to help them, and in any future dispensation, neither he nor his son Ch Moonis Elahi will be able to offer much support. Ch Pervaiz may find that his relationship with party chief Imran Khan shifting from that of coalition partner to subordinate.
Ch Pervaiz will also find that he will face much opposition within the PTI, especially from senior leaders who have their own ambitions. Assuming that the PTI wins in Punjab, which is not a certainty, he has no guarantee that he will get the office he so deeply covets, that of Punjab CM. Excluding the man he succeeded, Usman Buzdar, Fawad Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi were also aspirants in 2018. While all parties have an element of jostling for the leader’s favou, this is a tendency particularly marked in the PTI. Ch Pervaiz will find that he will face the same sort of opposition within the party as he did when he was stigmatized as a mere ally, who was using nearly 200 PTI MNAs to become CM when he only had 100 MPAs of his own.
On the other hand, it could be argued that he had burnt all his other bridges, including to his cousin Ch Shujat, and had no choice but to accept whatever terms Mr Khan gave him. Apart from Ch Shujat, he has also lost his support within the establishment, with the result that he is facing arrest, while his close aide has been picked up. An immediate test for him is likely to lie in the PTI’s Jail Bharo Tehrik. With the PTI ranks anxious to curry favour with Mr Khan by courting arrest, will Ch Pervaiz be able to stay free?
