Forthcoming LB elections: MMA starts contacts with opposition parties

The Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has started the contacts with all the major opposition parties, including PPP, Muslim League-N, Tehrik-e-Insaf, Pakistan Jamhoori Party, to field consensus candidates against the official nominees in the local bodies' elections to get positive results, said the spokesman for the MMA here on Saturday.
He confirmed that MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaquat Baloch established contact with Raja Zafarul Haq, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa of PML-N and talked about the pros and cons of the joint struggle. The leaders agreed to widen the negotiations net down to local level too.
Political observers say that it is an outcome of the meeting of JI Secretary General Syed Munawwar Hassan with Mian Shahbaz Sharif in London last week. They discussed the strategy for the forthcoming local bodies elections. The two leaders also agreed on joint struggle to establish contacts at all tiers of their respective party organisations.
MMA Secretary General Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman has also contacted Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari, and ARD chief Makhdoom Amin Faheem to discuss the possibility of consensus candidates.
The MMA, however, did not get any positive response from the PPP as it is somewhat reluctant to mix up with religious forces to assert liberal posture at the international level. As a result of this move, the two political forces have formed committees both at district and tehsil levels. The parties leaders have nominated members of the committees.
It is likely that the MMA, PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will join hands for the elections and field joint candidates as the PPP believes in contesting elections independently.
The PPP leaders are of the view that the PPP being the largest political party they have a big following among the masses and its candidates are in a position to win the elections on their own.
Both the MMA and the PML-N, however, believe in fielding joint candidates to give tough time to the official candidates. The PTI is not in a position to win the elections single-handedly and would contribute its strength to the alliance.
The MMA will also make some adjustments with the PML-Q especially in Balochistan where the two forces have formed coalition government. The two parties will also make adjustment in some areas of Punjab.
PTI chief Imran Khan has also directed its Punjab leadership to contribute its strength in favour of MMA-PML-N candidates.
Omar Sarfraz Cheema of the PTI held primary round of talks with the MMA leaders Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Salman Butt on July 2 at the APC called by the religious alliance in the city.