Politics in this country still seems to have little to do with morals. When in opposition, Prime Minister Imran Khan never missed an opportunity to accuse the PML-N of introducing political horse-trading. Now that the roles have been reversed, his men have no qualms about instigating desertions in that party. The Special Assistant to the PM on political affairs, Naeemul Haq, happily claimed in a Twitter post on Saturday that 15 Nawaz League MPAs accompanied by the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar held a meeting with Imran Khan. Though he did not disclose their identity, and the Leaguers tried to downplay the development, two legislators acknowledged having called on the PM, offering the flimsy justification that they had met with him to discuss development projects for their constituencies. In that case, the person to talk to was the CM not the PM. In fact, Haq had left no room for this dodgy explanation in his tweet when he said PML-N legislators from Punjab expressed full confidence in the prime minister and Punjab chief minister. Also, the next day, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry held a special news conference to predict more desertions in the PML-N.
Other members of the 'delegation' have rejected reports of having participated in the meeting or any intention of abandoning their party. But where there's smoke there's fire. As a matter of fact, there is nothing new in this country about people changing their political loyalties in exchange for personal gains. In the present instance, party insiders acknowledge the existence of a group of dissidents who might be ready to jump the ship but for the floor-crossing law under which they will have to resign their seats and seek reelection. That though is not an insurmountable hurdle. The potential turncoats might be waiting for the right moment to get into the act. They can retain their membership in the event those behind the move manage to persuade a sufficient number, 32 in this case, of the provincial legislators to form a forward bloc. Although legally permissible that amounts to hoodwinking the people who voted for the PML-N. The turncoats would be free to vote for government projects, plans and policies. The ruling PTI badly needs that support to shore up its razor-thin majority in the Punjab Assembly, and also to resist 'unreasonable' demands of its coalition partner, the PML-Q. Exigencies of power appear to have impelled Imran Khan to do something for which he previously showed nothing but utter contempt and disdain.
If and when the Leaguers form a forward bloc that will be a bad day for the democratic system. Imran Khan has repeatedly been expressing a firm resolve to strengthen the institutions. Any attempt by his party to undermine the mandate of an opposition party certainly will be a negation of that intent. It can help him reap political profit but lose the moral high ground he likes to stand on to shake his finger at the opposition leaders. He needs to abide by rules of principled politics in order to distinguish himself from those he has been criticising for circumventing the formal political structure. Ironically, however, it's often opportunities, not principled politicism.