Shaukat Aziz is in a state of comfy following the withdrawal of all opposition candidates and unconditional support announced by Sher Ali Malnani, taluka Nazim, Mithi.
A staunch Pakistan Peoples Party Patriot member, Malnani announced his unconditional support to Pakistan Muslim League (Q) candidate Shaukat Aziz at a press conference at his office on Wednesday.
He said he had taken this decision after a detailed meeting with National Assembly member Haji Abdullah of Tharparkar which, he claimed in the interest of the people of Thar.
He said he would soon start work for Shaukat Aziz in his electorate and was optimistic of favourable response.
Changing of loyalty of Taluka Nazim and other PPP-P members indicates depression in the ranks and files of the PPP-P in Tharparkar.
The only opposition candidate, who remains in the election arena, is Mahesh Malani and his supporting candidate Eng. Glan Chand of PPP-P.
Hamesh Maliani commands little political influence and apparently has no chance to emerge as successful candidate despite the support of the followers of Makhdoom of Hala, Jelanies and Makhdoom Shah Muhammed Qureshi against the PML (Q) candidates, who enjoys the support of Arbabs, Lunds and Thakurs, including Rana Chnder Singh, whose son Thukar Hameer Singh is engage in electioneering campaign in favour of Shaukat Aziz.
It may be mentioned that Arbab Dr Ghulam Rahim annexed this seat during the last elections with a thumping majority of 51,252 votes and later his nephew won this seat unopposed.
The NA-220 Tharparkar-1 had 256,286 votes of which 141,552 are male voters, while 114,734 are female voters.
Minority population in the area enjoys 50 percent vote bank and is in commanding position to influence the election results.
During this scribe's visit to Mithi and Deplo, it was observed that the desert people fully realised the advantages in returning Shaukat Aziz.
Monoher Lal said: "We had Chief Minister and now have Prime Minister from Tharparkar district with the belief that both will help Thari people to improve their socio-economic conditions."
The people were of the opinion that they had been neglected by the successive governments, including of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, except Muhammad Khan Junejo, who was from the Thar area and had made efforts to solve the problems of the desert people.
They maintain that a prime minister from Thar would be a blessing to the people of the area and as such "we will vote for Shaukat Aziz."
This belief of the people could be described as source of comfort to Shaukat Aziz.