- Senate chairman sets the ball rolling for Opposition leader’s appointment
- PTI says PPP stabbed in the back by nomination of its own candidate
ISLAMABAD: After bagging the post of deputy chairman of the Senate, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has set its eyes on the post of the opposition leader in the upper house as Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Friday commenced the formal procedure and sought opinion from opposition senators in this regard.
However, Sherry Rehman—supported by 20 lawmakers from the PPP, eight members from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and six members of the independent group from Balochistan— outruns Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Azam Swati—supported by twelve PTI senators, five from Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and two Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) senators.
Sources in the Senate Secretariat informed Pakistan Today that Senator Sherry Rehman, the nominee from PPP for the opposition leader’s slot, has submitted signatures from at least 34 senators from various opposition parties with the Senate Secretariat.
Upon investigation, at least two members of the Senate informed this scribe that they received a formal letter from the Senate Secretariat, seeking their opinion about the next leader of the opposition.
While talking to Pakistan Today, Senator Mian Attique disclosed that the secretariat sought intimation from members under rule 16 of the Rules & Procedures of Senate. As under the rule 16, it is the responsibility of the secretariat to write to all the opposition lawmakers to give their consent for the leader of the opposition’s slot. The deadline for giving consent, according to the letter, has been fixed at March 22.
PTI’s Azam Swati, whose nomination by the party came on Friday, told Pakistan Today that the PTI’s core committee meeting has taken note of the “breach of confidence” by the PPP, as all the major opposition groups had agreed on a power-sharing formula during the election of the top slots of the Senate.
He said the PTI Core Committee had nominated him for the slot and it had also condemned the PPP’s nomination of Sherry Rehman, calling it a move uncalled for.
“Since the independent group from Balochistan has been given the slot of the chairman and the PPP has bagged the slot of deputy chairman, the opposition leader had to come from the PTI. But the PPP leadership moved ahead with nominating its own lawmaker for the slot which was a right of the PTI,” he said.
Asked to elaborate, Swati said that the PTI had supported the PPP’s nominee for deputy chairman’s slot as a goodwill gesture and hence the PTI, being the second largest party of the opposition, had the right to bag opposition leader’s slot.
“This act by PPP would badly harm the unity. The entire opposition had stood united to defeat the PML-N candidates but the PPP has damaged this unity. Sherry Rehman took signatures from lawmakers while misleading them,” alleged Swati.
He also claimed that the chairman did not accept PPP’s submission, claiming support of 34 members, and has sent letters to all opposition members, seeking their consent.
Moreover, PTI chief Imran Khan has tasked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to contact all the opposition parties and evolve consensus within two days time, he said, adding that “if PPP wants to carry forward the alliance among the opposition parties, it should withdraw its nominee in PTI’s favour in two days.”
Commenting on the progress made Sherry Rehman in the quest for the slot, Senator Attique Ahmed said that Sherry Rehman was working to bag the opposition leader’s slot even before the election process began.
“Sherry had been in touch with almost opposition senators well before the race began. Even she had got signatures of MQM lawmaker Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif for her candidature while she had sought a verbal commitment from Senator Nighat. However, the situation changed after the MQM decided to support Senator Azam Swati,” he said.
He said Sherry Rehman had already got signatures from independent lawmakers from FATA and Balochistan and had been in touch with the senators individually since long.
“I think PTI has missed the bus. The PTI should have bargained with the PPP leaders in return for supporting Mandviwalla as the deputy chairman. But the PTI lacked strategy and it has now pitched Azam Swati as an afterthought,” he added.
In a reply to a question, he said that the MQM-P will support the PTI candidate as it has no other option. However, the senator feared that Sherry Rehman will win the contest as she has garnered enough support for the task.
Despite repeated efforts, Sherry Rehman was not available for comments. Anis Memon, the principal staff officer of the PPP leader, also made efforts, but that remained an exercise in futility.
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