The inclusion of Liaqat Jatoi in PML-N will help the party gain ground in Sindh which has been a traditional PPP and MQM stronghold. It is always good to see a party setting up roots countrywide, given the contours of our electoral politics that is plagued by provincialism and regionalism. Mr Jatoi’s announcement that he would merge his party within the PML-N is thus a good omen for the country’s politics. In the recent past, the PML-N’s ranks swelled with the joining of another prominent leader from Sindh, Marvi Memon.
The PML-N like other parties is getting ready for general elections. While it is but natural for every party to expect success, the PML-N must realise that it has to resurrect the party into what it once used to be under the charismatic leadership of Quaid-i-Azam. It is better if the party’s philosophy aims to transcend every other consideration for only then can the country be put on the right track. That is, it ought also to take the Likeminded Group along other breakaway factions, bring back in the fold the PML-Q since the Chaudhrys have renounced their past alliance with General Musharraf. The PML-N can then hope to get the electoral dividend. Also the country’s problems have multiplied to such an extent that they need a strong central leadership to solve them.