Reposing confidence in the old party horses while also adding some new faces, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sindh has finalised the names of party hopefuls from the province for the forthcoming senate elections, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The committee constituted to take interviews of potential Senate candidates has sent the list of recommended names for final approval to the top party leadership – PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, well-placed sources told Pakistan Today.
While Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh lost out in the race to impress the committee, including MNA Faryal Talpur, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah and former PPP information secretary Fauzia Wahab, Senator Raza Rabbani was successful in retaining his party’s ticket for the Senate elections on general seats.
“After complaints received during the last senate elections by the party over allocation of senate seats to persons outside Sindh, this time the PPP avoided giving tickets to outsiders,” the sources said.
Others who got the nod of the selection committee for senate tickets on general seats include PPP Karachi Division General Secretary Saeed Ghani, People’s Youth Organisation leader Aajiz Dhamrah, Muhammad Panah Odho and Rashid Rabbani, the brother of Senator Rabbani and a former adviser to Sindh chief minister.
Another ex-advisor to make the list of recommended senators was Dr Kaiser Bengali along with Peoples Doctors’ Forum President Dr Karim Khuwaja, who would be contesting the senate polls on the technocrat seats.
The tickets for the women seats were awarded to Sehar Kamran, the Jeddah-based Pakistan International School principal, and PPP Sindh Women Wing member Shahida Rehmani.
PPP Central Executive Committee member Hari Ram Kishorilal’s name was recommended for the minority seat in the senate polls.
“All of the nominated persons are of old party workers and not opportunists,” said a source in the PPP.
The list of recommended candidates may fall heavily on some of the top hopeful senators like Sharmila Farooqi, who was also reported to have appeared before the selection committee for an interview conducted at the Sindh Chief Minister’s House to select PPP’s would-be senators.
With senate elections due next month, the provincial government has convened an important session of the Sindh Assembly on February 13 (Monday) at 10:00 am.
The session has been called on the day when Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani is set to appear in-person in the Supreme Court again in a contempt-of-court case.
Meanwhile, a meeting of PPP leaders was held at the residence of Sindh Local Governments Minister Agha Siraj Durrani on Friday evening, where the Sindh chief minister and Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah among others were also present.
In the meeting, the PPP leaders discussed about the current political situation, the upcoming senate elections, local government system and the issues between coalition partners and the proceedings in the next provincial assembly session.
Hafeez Shaikh loses out, Raza Rabbani gets the nod
