A senator of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said on Friday that Asif Ali Zardari's decision to contest the next elections is aimed at ending what he called the confrontational attitude of his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari against the present government. 

Zardari, who returned to Pakistan after a long stay in Dubai, said he would be concerned about his son's actions, particularly during his absence from the country, Senator Nehal Hashmi believes.

Talking to Business Recorder, he said "the control of the party is completely in the hands of Zardari now." Once father and son are in parliament after contesting by-elections, the democratic process would be strengthened, by what he called Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's policy of reconciliation becoming more effective.

The PML-N senator said Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's conformational approach will not materialise, and he expected Zardari to keep running the party.

Nehal Hashmi expects Zardari to be more cautious in his policies because the PPP was wiped out in Punjab due to its poor governance in its previous two tenures. During his five years in the Presidency after the 2008 elections Zardari himself failed to deliver, despite the fact that he had all the powers in his hands, he added.

But a prominent local member of the PPP, Naveed Chaudhry, dismissed the impression that it is Zardari who is actually running the party. "This is a misunderstanding," he said in his comments to Business Recorder. "All decision-making powers are one hundred percent with Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari," he insisted.

Naveed Chaudhry, who has been heading the PPP's social media wing in Punjab, said Bilawal will lead the campaigns across the country, and that he is taking all the decisions regarding the party's reorganisation and restructuring.

He said Zardari and Bilawal did take the decision together to contest the by-elections. However, the rest of the issues are discussed in the PPP's central executive committee.

-Business Recorder