KHANEWAL, Oct 4: This is perhaps the only district in southern Punjab where workers of the PPP and the PML-N are electioneering in unison against the PML-QA.

Once sour relations between the countries’ two main political organizations turned cordial in Khanewal when the Hiraj clan of district Nazim Ahmed Yar left the PPP on the last day of allotment of symbols for the October 10 elections. Instead of seeking the PPP’s ‘Arrow’, Nazim’s brothers Hamid Yar and Mohammad Yar opted to go independent with ‘Hockey’ as their symbol.

Earlier, the Hirajs deceitfully withdrew their covering candidates from NA-157 and PP-215, who were staunch PPP supporters. Reportedly, the Hirajs had also persuaded a member of the PPP old guard, former MNA Pir Mohammad Aslam Bodla of Mian Channu, into deserting the party. However, last-minute efforts of the party’s high command averted further losses in the home district of Punjab chief secretary Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa, whose younger brother, Khalid Iqbal Randhawa, is a PML-QA candidate for PP-219 (Khanewal-VIII).

However, defection of Hirajs was no surprise, as the district Nazim had not only taken active part in the referendum campaign, but also went an extra mile during a referendum rally in Khanewal by saying that the general’s existence in the presidency was a must for continuity of the district government system. The PML-QA has not fielded anybody against Hamid Yar in NA-157.

After the betrayal of Hirajs, Punjab PPP president Qasim Zia and Benazir Bhutto’s political secretary Naheed Khan paid whirlwind visits to Khanewal and announced support for PML-N candidate Rizwan Ahmed Daha against Hamid Yar. One can see tri-colour PPP flags embossed with the PML-N election symbol (Tiger) in Khanewal.

Punjab Millat Party chief Hussain Jehania Gardezi, one of the aspirants for PP-213, is also playing the same trick to deceive the PPP voters in his constituency. He has mounted PPP flags embossed with ‘Tractor’ — the National Alliance election symbol — on vehicles being used in electioneering for him, although PPP’s Malik Sajid Raza Thahim is also vying for the same PA seat.

The PPP support is very much in demand here. In the local bodies polls, PPP-backed panels notched the top slots in the district as well as all of its four Tehsils — Khanewal, Mian Channu, Kabirwala and Jehania.

The cunning act of Hirajs is a mixed blessing for their arch rivals, Syeds of Kattalpur, who are led by PML-QA think-tank Syed Fakhar Imam, whose position in NA-156 (Kabirwala) has improved against Barrister Raza Hayat Hiraj of the PPP after neutralization of a sizable chunk of the PPP vote-bank. PPP voters are annoyed over the defection of Mr Hayat’s cousins in NA-157. At the same time, his position as the only King’s man in the district will now be shared by Hirajs.