The nomination of Sardar Usman Buzdar as the PTI candidate for the coveted post of CM Punjab has raised many questions. He is a new comer to the PTI compare to the other contenders. The NAB is investigating corruption and misuse of authority charges him. The inquiry is going on in NAB against him. Either Imran Khan was misinformed on the facts about Sardar Buzdar or he wilfully ignored these facts and nominated him.
He has no administrative experience but nominated for the highest office of the largest province. He was a Tehsil Nazim in Taunsa during the Musharaf regime. He spends most of his time in PML-Q and PML-N instead of PTI.
It seems that politically unknown Buzdar from Taunsa Sharif district DG Khan has been preferred over the strong contenders for this important position to keep the tight grip of Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen on the affairs of Punjab. His only qualification seems to be that he has no group or lobby within PTI.
PTI leadership ignored all the powerful lobbies and groups within PTI who were trying to win the trust of the leadership. A strong candidate belonging to a strong group could have asserted himself and cause problems for top PTI leadership. But Buzdar will be dependent on the leadership to survive as CM.
The PTI sources revealed that Jahangir Tareen chooses Buzdar for the CM Punjab and convinced Imran Khan to nominate him. The PTI sources told ACE News that Jahangir Tareen wants to make Abdul Aleem Khan as senior minister of Punjab and he will work as de-facto chief minister. It will mean that Jahangir Tareen/Aleem Khan group will have the dominant position in Punjab government.
It is clear that there will be more than one power centres in Punjab. Ch Sarwar will be a strong and active governor of Punjab and he will play an active political and administrative role in the government. He will not be a silent spectator but an important political player.
Ch Pervez Elahi is another important political player in this new political set up. He remained speaker and CM Punjab. He remained the part of the power structure in Punjab for more than three decades. Many PML-N and PTI members in Punjab assembly served under him when he was a chief minister from 2002 to 2007.
PTI made him speaker Punjab assembly because it needs his help to gain the majority in Punjab to form the government. But it will not be in the interest of PTI to give free hand to Pervez Elahi in Punjab. He will try his level best to strengthen his own party PML-Q in Punjab.
Aleem Khan and Jahangir Tareen will be another power center in Punjab. They will influence the decisions and policies in Punjab through PM Imran Khan. They will dominate the Punjab government in the presence of a weak chief minister.
Jahangir Tareen killed two birds with one stone. With the nomination of Buzdar, he ousts the Shah Mehmood Qureshi group from the race. Shah Mehmood Qureshi himself was the candidate of CM Punjab but lost provincial assembly seat against an independent candidate. Qureshi has alleged that Tareen helped the independent candidate to defeat him. Without holding any public office, Jahangir Tareen will call the shorts in Punjab. He will remain as one of the most powerful persons in the new setup in Islamabad and Punjab.
Jahangir Tareen is one of the most trusted aides of Imran Khan. The nomination of Sardar Usman Buzdar for CM Punjab, in fact, is a big victory for Tareen and a defeat for his opponents. Tareen has the last laugh.
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