The PPP leaders Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jehangir Badar, Qasim Zia, Ghulam Abbas, Dr Farzana Raja, and others are reluctant to expose Benazir Bhutto to Punjab until the Chaudhry hand over the reigns of power to the caretakers, sources said here on Tuesday.
In recent party consultations, they have suggested that Benazir Bhutto should start her much-awaited visit to the Punjab after the announcement of the elections schedule. They advised her to start the election campaign from Punjab and then after going through other provinces also end the campaign in the Punjab.
It is learnt that the PPP leaders first want to see the back of the Chaudhrys and then let Benazir Bhutto enter Punjab. The Chaudhrys will leave the government as soon as the election schedule is announced, handing over the charge of the province to the caretakers.
Benazir Bhutto was scheduled to travel to Punjab soon after her visit to Larkana. The plan was that she would enter Punjab either through Rahim Yar Khan and Multan or she would land in Islamabad from where she will arrive in Lahore via GT Road stopping at different cities in-between. But after the bomb blasts on the PPP rally, the party is now rescheduling her future plans and programmes.
In her letter to the President before her return to country, one of the persons Benazir named was Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi who according to her could harm her. The political leaders dubbed this as a political ploy on her part, meant only to press the government to remove the figures mentioned in the letter even before the arrival of the caretakers.
The Chaudhry have emerged, as the main political rivals of the PPP not ready to give political space to the PPP. In the PPP leaders calculations as long as Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is at the helm of affairs in the Punjab, he will not let Benazir Bhutto move freely in the province and may create problems in organising mass mobilisation. The PPP leaders from the Punjab especially believe that the Chaudhry will also not allow them to organise a huge public show on the arrival of Benazir Bhutto in the province as was done in Karachi, using administration and police.
Hence, the PPP leaders are reluctant to let Benazir come to Punjab before the departure of the Chaudhry. In the past too, the Chaudhry pinned down Asif Ali Zardari in Lahore when he was released from jail. They not only restricted Zardari, but also did not let PPP organise big receptions for Zardari. Subsequently Zardari left Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the war of words between PPP and Chaudhry is likely to intensify in the days to come especially after Benazir nominated Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in her letter to Musharraf. The confrontation between them started when the Chaudhry opposed the deal between President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto.