“Should we extrapolate on the by-election results?” “Extrapolate away my friend but you will only get those who already agree with your point of view on your side, the others may get abrasive about your…your extrapolation.”
“Let’s see if I am as divisive as The Big Three.”
“Big Three?”
“OK I was referring to Nawaz Sharif, Zardari sahib and The Khan but I stand corrected – they are not the Big Three – they act like the Big One when their party is in power with people like us, but are actually taking dictation…”
“I get it but the consensus after The Khan’s recent acknowledgement that he was acting as a post office…”
“An acknowledgement that was made by the other two members of the Little Three years before, not because they are more astute but because they had formed governments before.”
“Indeed, anyway do you think there are any lessons learned after the bye-elections?”
“Zardari sahib was proved right in selecting the two seats from which the The Khan party members resigned because they won those.”
“I suppose by that logic Nawaz Sharif’s selections were flawed one hundred percent. Do you think he summoned his daughter to London just so she would not be associated with the rout?”
“Hey to get 100 out of hundred is no mean feat my friend.”
“Don’t be facetious.”
“OK, but perhaps the party made two mistakes: first bringing Dar back after he ignominiously left the country in 2017 when his own party was in power, probably did not help. The Khan has also not allowed the voters to forget Dar’s failure to provide evidence to justify the manifold increase in his wealth, however with changes in the NAB laws and directing the prosecution not to proceed…”
“I get it. Ismail did say that Dar was doing unto him what the establishment does unto the Little Three: dictate all decisions…”
“Ah but to be able to strut around…”
“Be kind, anyway the second mistake is yet to be made, the PML-N third tier leadership (first tier being Nawaz Sharif, between first and second tier Maryam Nawaz and her limited coterie of sycophants, second tier Shahbaz Sharif and his sons, and then comes the rest of the lot) is busy telling Nawaz Sharif that if he had been allowed to stand from the six national assembly bye election seats he would have given a tough time to The Khan.”
“That’s hypothetical and I am not going to respond.”
“But…”
“Elections my friend is not about two people. Anyway the key positions in the Shehbaz Sharif-led massive cabinet is for one reason: the cabinet is large enough to play the entire T20 tournament (with seven teams) with no need to engage with any outside team…”
“You mean The Khan?”
“No comment.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022