Nawaz’s reappearance is once more the talk of the town.
Party officials claim that the elder Sharif’s return does not indicate that the government is giving in to early voting.
However, they assert that the eagerly anticipated homecoming won’t indicate the government’s intentions to give in to the PTI’s demand for early elections. PML-N leaders are confident that party leader Nawaz Sharif will return in December to lead his party.
Under the condition of anonymity, a party insider stated that Nawaz Sharif will, if all goes well, return in December to take back control of the party, but that rumors that he would only do so in time for the election season to run a campaign were untrue because “his return does not in any way mean that PML-N has agreed to any early elections.”
“Come what may, the party will not give in on the issue of early elections. Even if it loses power, the PMLN will not accede to this demand, and that decision was final, he continued.
Instead, he made it clear that Nawaz Sharif’s return will usher in a mass contact drive, which will be followed by a workers’ convention and other events aimed at reviving party members.
He declared that the party would make every effort to use the remaining time in office to win back the swing votes.
The party insider responded that they were completely confident the new command will remain “apolitical,” not allowing either side to derail democracy, and “will ask all the leading political parties to behave like one,” when asked how they were certain the new command of the establishment would treat them with the same velvet-gloved treatment as the existing lot did.
He emphasized that they had just ever requested an even playing field.
When asked what threat there might be to his government, he responded that the only danger would come from a potential vote of no confidence if his party made any decisions that upset some people.
The president would then instruct the prime minister to request a vote of confidence from the house if that happened because people might abandon them and they might not receive the necessary number of votes. He asserted that the likelihood of such occurring was remote.
According to him, PTI might possibly go to court and contest the end date of the three-year extension. If the party were to choose this course, it would be fighting a losing battle.
He stated that PML-N extension was off the table and that the choice of the new leader would first be discussed with coalition members, particularly PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
When asked what narrative the party would follow, he replied that the party would stick to its tried-and-true “vote ko izzat do” catchphrase and reiterate how the economy of the nation was doing well during its rule, among other things.
On condition of anonymity, a senior party official also confirmed that, to the best of his knowledge, Nawaz Sharif was indeed scheduled to make a comeback in the upcoming month. He did, however, mention that certain situations might compel him to reevaluate this strategy. Nothing can be predicted with absolute certainty until a flight is booked.
He claimed that the party leader makes his own decisions after consulting his immediate family. Giving any date ahead of time was somewhat risky because party consultation was only a formality, he continued.
Pervez Rashid, a senior PML-N leader, declined to respond to the inquiry and reaffirmed his earlier claim that he was unaware of any such plan.
