KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira on Sunday stated: “if Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman steps down as the presidential candidate, Aitzaz Ahsan will win (the September 4 election)”.
“We respect Maulana Fazlur Rehman and our attempts are to convince him to withdraw his nomination papers. If he agrees then Aitzaz Ahsan will be victorious,” added Kaira while addressing a news conference along with other party leaders in Lahore.
Earlier on August 27, Fazlur and Ahsan were proposed as the opposition’s nominees for the presidential elections. The two leaders are competing for the coveted post against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Dr Arif Alvi.
Regarding the opposition’s failure to reach consensus on a joint candidate for the presidential slot, the PPP leader said that the opposition parties must be strong and stay united to keep a check on the Imran Khan-led PTI government. “It will be our priority to unite the opposition,” he vowed.
Speaking about the controversy of nominating a joint opposition’s candidate, he said that the PPP did not enter into any coalition with the other opposition parties after the Aitzaz Ahsan’s name was proposed for the president’s seat.
Kaira further added that the PPP had attempted to reach out to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to seek support for Ahsan.
“We were even ready to visit Nawaz Sharif in jail,” he said, adding, “We tried meeting Nawaz Sharif, even Shehbaz Sharif asked us to meet him but the meeting could not take place.”
However, he said that they were still trying to convince the ex-ruling party and “they should vote for Aitzaz Ahsan”.