PTI, PML-N trying to gain support of independent candidates, smaller parties to form provincial government The province is the country’s richest and most populous ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif are both striving to form a government in Punjab, the country’s richest and most populous province. Sharif, Punjab’s former chief minister, has reached out to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for support in the province. Meanwhile, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is trying to gain support from independent candidates and small parties or groups. Sharif on Saturday met with PPP leader and former Punjab Gov. Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood. PTI spokesman and newly elected National Assembly member Fawad Chaudhry said his party is in contact with independent lawmakers elected to the provincial assembly. “We’ve got enough support,” he told Arab News, without giving a number. A senior PTI leader, Naeem ul Haq, said his party will soon announce nominees for chief minister of the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab. In the latter, the PML-N has emerged as the largest party with 129 seats, but the PTI is close behind with 123. A total of 29 independents won seats in the Punjab Assembly, and their support will be crucial in forming a provincial government. The Pakistan Muslim League — Quaid (PML-Q) won seven seats, the PPP won six, and the Pakistan Awami Raj party won one. The Punjab Assembly comprises 295 members, and a simple majority of 148 is needed to form a government. “Punjab is the heartland of power politics. The dictum of Pakistani politics is whichever party rules Punjab effectively rules the country,” analyst Prof. Rasul Bakhsh Rais told Arab News. As such, “we’re witnessing one of the biggest power struggles between the PTI, the rising party, and the PML-N, which is fighting for its survival,” he said. “One must read the failure of the PML-N, which has ruled Punjab for decades, in the context of the PTI’s rise.” The province and the country will benefit immensely if the PTI forms governments in Punjab, KP and Islamabad, Rais added. Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, a professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, told Arab News: “If the PML-N forms a government in Punjab, it will be difficult for the PTI to govern from the center. The PML-N may use Punjab government resources to destabilize the central government.”