LAHORE (Dunya News) - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will arrive in Quetta today (Tuesday) on a two-day visit to Balochistan for boosting his party’s organization and forging new alliances in the province ahead of the upcoming elections.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz -- the party’s chief organizer-- will accompany him during his visit to Balochistan where he is expected to seal a seat-adjustment deal with the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) which is now led by Khalid Magsi.
The Balochistan-based party had parted ways with the PTI-led ruling alliance, paving the way for the success of a no-confidence motion which propelled Shehbaz to the prime minister’s office for a 16-month-long stint.
The planned agreement with the BAP comes after the PML-N last week secured a similar deal with the MQM-P in Sindh where discussions are on for extending the electoral collaboration to other parties like Pir Pagara’s PML-F and the JUI-F.
Nawaz is also expected to meet over 20 prominent political leaders and several of them will join the PML-N, boosting the party’s prospects in February 8 general elections.
The visit also has a great symbolic significance given that it was Balochistan where the downfall of his government began after the change in party loyalty and shifting alliances ended the tenure of the then chief minister Sanaullah Zehri.
Both Zehri and Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch had left the PML-N and later joined the PPP after criticising Nawaz and his policies after he accused the establishment of toppling his government, conviction and the controversial elections in 2018.