Appeasing allies

The PTI government has reportedly decided to offer more cabinet positions in both the centre and Punjab to its allied parties. This decision seems to come at a time when the opposition parties have been busy meeting the government’s two main allies, the PML-Q and the MQM-P. The opposition has announced that a no-confidence motion will soon be tabled against the prime minister in parliament. It is in this backdrop that the promise of additional ministries has been made to keep its allies by the government’s side. The government is understandably worried. Gallup Pakistan’s most recent survey reveals that PM Khan’s popularity has dipped in Punjab, while Nawaz Sharif is apparently popular even while many miles away in London.

However, not all allies seem to be happy with this offer, with reports that the MQM-P has said the offer of another slot in the federal cabinet is not tempting enough for the party to take any more of the government’s burden on its shoulders. The party has two members in the federal cabinet but it does not recognise Farogh Nasim’s ministry as a party ministry. The MQM-P has also been quite vocal in its criticism against the government’s economic policies and rising inflation in recent days. The Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) may also get a slot in the federal cabinet while there are also rumours that some new positions may be given to the disgruntled Jahangir Khan Tareen (JKT) group in order to appease them. It will be interesting to see how many ministries will be given to the PML-Q as that is one allied party that has been making headlines with all the high-profile meetings that took place at Chaudhry Shujaat and Pervaiz Elahi’s house earlier this month. Despite Moonis Elahi’s dismissal of those meetings as a routine matter, it seems that the government is genuinely worried about the opposition’s no-confidence move. History shows that allied parties do not leave a coalition government unless they are sure that its days are over or elections are near. Many factors, especially those outside the political realm are also part of such moves.

It also remains to be seen how the government’s offer of additional ministries to allied parties is taken amongst the PTI’s own ranks. We saw how serving cabinet ministers reacted to the PM’s certificates to the top ten ministries when they were left out. Every member of parliament or provincial assembly wants to have a go at a cabinet slot as it benefits their local constituency politics and ensures that due to the power associated with being in the cabinet, a politician gets more work done in his/her constituency. If a government that is unpopular and not performing well starts offering cabinet slots to its allies, it ends up paying a political cost associated with a power tussle.