In an ironic twist of fate, the government has decided to seek the services of PPP’s finance minister Shaukat Tareen after an unexpected shakeup in the cabinet showed Hafeez Sheikh the door. Over a decade earlier, the same two characters were involved in a similar transfer of ministerial power when Sheikh had enjoyed the hot seat. Everything old is new again! Mr Sheikh’s abrupt ouster is being touted as a move to bring in a new finance team to deal with the spiralling inflation. He had been skating on thin ice ever since he lost the race to Yousaf Raza Gillani. Still, Islamabad’s sudden overture after taking up all cudgels to see him in Senate (one way or the other) sounds intriguing at best. Call it a risk not worth taking or a direct fallout of the State Bank controversy, there is much, much more to the finance minister’s send-off than meets the eye. That said, the ruling PTI is now entering the ring with a previously-tried heavyweight. In his short stint as finance minister, renowned banker Tareen was able to kickstart some meaningful reforms to drive the country away from the verge of defaulting foreign loans. He considers the procurement of an $11.2 billion bailout package from the IMF as the highlight of his ministership. The former minister has been a part of the buzz surrounding the skipper’s kitchen cabinet ever since he came to power in 2018. Firstly, the rumour mills were abuzz with Tareen volunteering with his insight on key economic affairs (in no official capacity whatsoever). There have been umpteen rumors of him being approached by high-profile PTI officials. Going by what Tareen said, he was even contacted by the recently-removed Mr Sheikh. Yet, time and again, the banker has refused to entertain any such prospect until he is given a clean chit in NAB’s corruption references against him. Maintaining his innocence in the Rental Power Projects scandal, the ex-minister has even moved an appeal in the Supreme Court. Any such decision would push PM Khan back in the selected accountability alley; something he has been striving hard to distance himself from. Nevertheless, the anti-graft body is the best source to comment upon what has actually gone down between the two parties to get Tareen onboard. Whatever loyalty the captain might have expected from his new arrival, Tareen has not yet made any effort to show where his cards lie. In a television show, he recently lambasted the previous position-holders (not pulling any punches), “Why haven’t we been able to fix our house in two and a half years?” He went on in his tirade pinpointing specifically at the failed negotiations with the IMF that was said to have been front-loaded too much. His excoriating critique noted the skyrocketing interest rates and a drop in currency rates. Detailing the ground realities before sitting behind the steering wheel does make sense. However, no diplomatic language was used to soft-pedal his haranguing of those at the very top. His stance on the IMF deal appears all the more interesting considering his earlier denunciation for the government not knocking at its doorstep earlier. It can only be expected that the esteemed tycoon would be able to walk his mighty talk. We’ve had more than our fair share of the blame game. Simply having lofty goals cannot do the magical swish. If he is serious about coming on board, he should do some homework about the broad governance issue of inflation that awaits him. After all, it was not long ago that Tareen used to appear on television screens chewing out Asad Umar for taking the reins sans any blueprint. *