Annoyed with Senator Raza Rabbani’s persistent defiance to the decisions of the top leadership of the party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is likely to serve a show-cause notice to Rabbani over violating the party’s discipline within few days, Pakistan Today has learnt reliably.
A source in the ruling PPP said President Asif Ali Zardari is angry with Rabbani over his resignation last month as the federal minister for inter-provincial coordination in protest against the PPP’s decision of forging an alliance with the PML-Q.
“It is not the first time that he staged mutiny against the party’s decision as he had earlier angered President Zardari when he in March 2009 refused to accept the nomination of Farooq H Naek for the slot of the Senate chairman and resigned from the position of the leader of opposition in the Upper House of the Parliament,” said the source.
It is pertinent to mention that Rabbani in the last two years missed no opportunity in the Senate to criticise the ministers, and at one stage in May 2010, he along the opposition members openly opposed the Alternative Energy Development Board Bill 2010 moved by the then minister for water and power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
According another source in the PPP, another factor pushing President Zardari to cut Rabbani to his size is the pressure from the PML-Q leadership on the devolution issue.
“Senator Raza Rabbani being the chairman of 18th Amendment Implementation Commission has refused to spare the ministries like labour and manpower, health, minorities affairs from the devolution which is irking the PML-Q leaders who have advised President Zardari to either remove Rabbani from the chairmanship of the commission or force him to not insist on the devolution of the said ministries,” said the source.
Rabbani has recently resisted the decision agreed by the PPP and the PML-Q to make Senator Wasim Sajjad as the member of the 18th Amendment Implementation Commission while threatening that if he was forced by the party’s top command to budge from his stance on the devolution issue for appeasing the Chaudhrys, he would resign from the chairmanship of the commission.
The source said till now Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani was defending Rabbani and had advised President Zardari to avoid taking extreme step against the independent-minded senator.
“Premier Gilani has also assured the Chaudhrys that he would convince Rabbani on not insisting on the devolution of ministries currently under the PML-Q control,” said the source.
Another source in the PPP said Rabbani was unlikely to get party ticket for the next senate elections to be held in 2012, as a strong lobby from Sindh was active against him.
The source said Rabbani had annoyed the party leaders from Sindh, including 12 advisors to the Sindh chief minister, who were shown door on his directives.
Rabbani, who is heading the body to ensure implementation of the 18th Amendment, had asked Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to limit the number of advisors from 17 to 5 under the new arrangement given in the constitution.
