LAHORE: To say that the sher is losing some sleep over the Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf’s (PTI) upcoming ‘mammoth’ anti-inflation rally over the weekend would not be an exaggeration.

With the PTI vowing to amass 200,000 supporters for its December 22 rally to protest price hikes, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PLM-N) is wasting no time in executing a two-pronged counter-strategy of deflating rates of commodities, as it is concerned about the impact of PTI’s gathering on the upcoming local bodies elections.

PML-N insiders have revealed that the party’s ‘different and more practical’ strategy puts Hamza Shahbaz and the chief minister himself at the helm of two tasks.
Sources told The Express Tribune that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has deployed all government and political machinery to water down the impact of the impending ‘tsunami’.

According to government officials, the CM presides over a daily special cabinet committee on price control during which he receives reports from the executive and political leaderships.

MNAs and MPAs have been assigned duties to visit mandis and enforce government rates of commodities. The committee has also established a call centre and advertised a toll-free number where citizens can complain about price hikes in the city.

Special magistrates have been appointed at wholesale markets to control rates of other commodities.

One PML-N MNA from the CM’s committee on price control said that prices of vegetables have come down to 60% thanks to the effective monitoring.
He said that the party will issue a comparative chart of prices in K-P and Punjab before the December 22 rally, adding that Imran’s decision to protest in Lahore rather than Peshawar shows he is out to gather votes for the upcoming LG election.

Hamza’s rejoinder rally
Insiders said that the party knows better than to repeat its ‘mistake’ of holding a rally two days before the October 30, 2011 rally.

This time, Hamza will hold a gathering titled ‘Baldiati Convention’ after the
PTI’s scheduled rally, where party candidates for LG elections will participate and deliver speeches against the PTI.

They added that while someone had suggested stopping the PTI from holding a rally on The Mall by way of the law, the party sternly ruled out that option.
It is pertinent to mention that both parties asked their potential party candidates for LG election to demonstrate their power in their show of mass before LG election.

Source