Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued instructions to Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to enhance surveillance of at least 15 party MNAs and 20 MPAs from KP to check their ‘contacts’ with the opposition, sources informed Daily Times on Monday.

The Senate’s general seat from Islamabad has suddenly become the centre of attention as the joint opposition has launched former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani as their candidate against PTI’s Dr Hafeez Sheikh, federal minister for finance. The PTI does not enjoy simple majority in National Assembly and is dependent on coalition partners like MQM, PML-Q, GDA and BAP for maintaining majority in the House.

Sources said Prime Minister Imran Khan and his close aides are feeling the heat as many PTI MNAs and MPAs are expressing their dissatisfaction with the party just ahead of the Senate elections scheduled be to be held on March 3. While some have expressed their resentment in the open, most of them have so far been ‘whispering’ in close circles.

Prime Minister Imran Khan understands well that losing the Senate seat from Islamabad, where the general seat is traditionally won by the ruling party, will create an impression that he has lost support of the majority, and hence his political legitimacy will be seriously challenged. He is also worried about Khyber Pakhtunkhawa where MPAs have used Senate elections to vote against party lines in return for money.

Prime Minister Khan met former provincial minister Atif Khan in Islamabad on Monday. Atif was once a blue-eyed but was forced to resign in 2019 after he was found to be conspiring against sitting Chief Minister Mehmood Khan. Similarly, Prime Minister also found time to meet with an MPA from Punjab, Khurram Leghari, who went public with his intensions to not vote for the party candidates in Punjab. The two meetings signify that prime minister is feeling the need to himself reach out to individuals who may be upset with the party leadership. In Balochistan, where PTI had to change its ticket from Abdul Qadir to Zahoor Agha, dissentions continue to simmer. Sources claim that Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind has also expressed his dissatisfaction with the ticket distribution in the province, privately to the party leadership. He has a block of four MPAs in Balochistan, and wanted a ticket for his son.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad has claimed that PTI has the support of many MNAs and MPAs of PML-N, though he also casually commented that one seat plus or minus in the Senate election is ‘not that significant’.

Amid all this political manoeuvring, Supreme Court has to decide whether the Senate elections will be held through a secret ballot or show of hand. Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party are very confident of getting a verdict in favour of open balloting from the apex court.