Imran Khan Promise Of Tsunami: A Reality Check

                            Imran Khan Promise Of Tsunama: A Reality Check

Imran Khan PTI has kick started his Election Campaign from Peshawar, by holding  a big successful Jalsa, with thousands participating in the rally. It was a much needed boost for PTI as their Poll ratings are nose-diving with every passing day, they find themselves below PPP, which is definitely alarming for PTI, as a year ago they were riding on a wave of popularity, when in Liaqat Bagh Imran Khan very proudly congratulated his supporters, after topping the Poll ratings.

                                                        Imran Khan PTI in Peshawar 

But what is frustrating to see that Imran Khan PTI didn't learn anything from his dipping approval ratings, bashed  political opponents in his usual arrogant tone, declaring them looters and plunderers, holding them responsible for Pakistan down fall in last 65 years, declaring his Peshawar rally a historic one, never witnessed before, promised to bring "Tsunama" at Lahore.  Summing up his Peshawar rally, Imaran Khan missed a golden opportunity to give a road map rather stuck to his rhetoric's of PMLN bashing. Irony of the matter is, he was holding a rally in Peshawar, where PMLN last ruled 14 years back for a period of 30 months,  uttered  not a single word against ANP and collation Government of KPK, infect praised ANP led KPK Government for awarding Prime land in Peshawar for his Shoukat Khanam Cancer Hospital , while we often see him criticizing PMLN, when asked that Nawaz Sharif gave you Lahore Land for SKMH, as usual his answer is,  he didn't give it to me from his pocket.  Either ANP led collation Government is performing wonderfully well, he is too much obsessed with PMLN or he doesn't want to contest from KPK???.

                                                        Nawaz Sharif PMLN in Mardan

A recent "Pildat-Gallup" Poll showed PMLN front runner in coming GE with 41% voting Intentions, PPP distance second with 17% and Imran Khan PTI lagging further behind with 14% approval rating. These poll show one thing very interesting, that people of Pakistan like Imran Khan PTI as an individual and Star commodity but not willing to vote for him,  even in popularity index his popularity declined and he is close Second to Nawaz Sharif PMLN. PTI leaders are ready to accept the Popularity index of the Poll but not the Voting Intention Index, every body coming up with his own logic and few very funny ones as well. But the very fact remains, they aren't able to comprehend that popularity is a different phenomenon altogether that comes with Star Status, and Imran Khan  no doubt is a Star turned politician.

This Gallup-Pildat survey is actually unique of its kind, 10,000 people participated in it, key and pretty straight forward Question were asked , whom would you like to vote if Elections were held next week, it covered Cities, towns, even small union councils. Divided Pakistan in different zones, presented a comparison of voting intentions in different zones for last twenty years,  most importantly, this was carried out by two very credible organisations in Pakistan, particularly Pildat

As PTI is rejoicing their pesahwar Jalsa success declaring it historic, Statements started to pour in from different PTI quarters that PTI will sweep these Elections, these surveys and Polls are nothing, what we displayed in Peshawar was the real Poll, so on and so forth. "Rahim Ullah Yousaf Zai", very upright and honest KPK based political analyst declared Peshawar PTI Jalsa , a very good one but not the first one and not the historic one as well.  According to him it was not a Peshawar Vally jalsa but rather was a KPK jalsa.

 Yes, it was a good start to a very tough GE for PTI, glorifieng a Jalsa and declaring it as bench mark for their success in next GE is not wise and good for their political future, because  a day earlier Nawaz Sharif PMLN held a huge rally in Mardan, which in comparison to Peshawar is much smaller district  with less population. Pesahwar consists of 13 NA seats and roughly 36-37 million population, if we go by this standard. then Tahir-Ul-Qadri  rallies were much bigger across the country. JUI-F and JI had similar rallies in Pesahwar and according to Political pundits bigger than PTI rally.

Infect I honestly believe Imran Khan PTI missed a huge opportunity post 30 October, bashing and targeting just one party ( PMLN), criticising them in almost every public appearance, while PMLN played their cards very smartly, convincing people that if you vote for PTI that means  you are voting for PPP and Zardari Regime, secondly Shahbaz Sharif performance looks exceptional when compared to other Provinces and Federal Government.  Criticism and bashing of PMLN by IK didn't actually go well with people of Punjab, infect the more IK bashes them, the more people realize that why he is just targeting one party and acting as a spoiler rather than a winner. IK clearly showed his political immaturity, still going on with same old rhetoric's, nothing new coming out of his Public appearances, hurting PTI big time.

While IK held a successful rally in Peshawar, promised the audience a much bigger show in Lahore on 23 March, hence sweep the coming GE. PTI Imran Khan must understand if Jalsas and rallies are bench-mark and litmus test in winning the GE, then PMLN very quietly but shrewdly kick-started their Election campaign when Historic Metro Bus Service was launched in Lahore on 10 Feb, where millions watched the event on TV and thousands gathered on every Metro Station, while Shahbaz Sharif and other dignitaries passed by. PMLN made that event humongous. Followed by Shahbaz Sharif cress crossing Punjab, held  huge public meetings and rallies in Central, Northern and Southern Punjab.

Shahbaz Sharif In Narowal

                                                                 Metro Bus Inaugration

                                                     Shahbaz Sharif In Toba-tek Singh

                                                           Shahbaz Sharif In Okara

                                                    Shahbaz Sharif In Burewala(Vehari)

Above are Glimpse's of few events by PMLN carried out in last one month or so, (many not Pasted),  huge amount of effort PMLN is putting in and  IK has  lot of work load in weeks to come. For Imran Khan to catch PMLN looks very difficult and remote as well, a recent Gallup-Pildat survey, showed PMLN approval ratings in Punjab at 63%, PTI 14% and PPP 10%,  considering the fact Punjab contains bulk of National Assembly Seats, close to 150, the real battle ground in next GE, who so ever wins this front would be able to form Federal Government comfortably.

From here on, it really looks an up hill task for Imran Khan PTI to topple PMLN, because not much time is left in GE, as PTI must understand if they are going to hold rallies, PMLN is going to match them inch by inch, with PMLN having an advantage in GE that Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif both are going to hold rallies, even Hamza Shahbaz is attracting big crowds in Punjab, while one can not find any one in PTI except Imran Khan to attract a sizable crowd and make a meaningful impact.