Senate chairmanship: Yusuf Gilani is PDM’s unanimous candidate

ISLAMABAD: The 10-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Monday unanimously agreed upon Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani as their candidate for the Senate chairman, while a committee — comprising members from all the component parties of the Movement — has been constituted for creating consensus on candidates for the deputy chairman Senate and opposition leader.

PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will head this committee comprising Iftikhar Hussain, Doctor Jamaldini, Tahir Bazenjo, Usman Kakar, Akram Khan Durrani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Hafiz Abdul Kareem as members.

The committee will meet at Islamabad on Tuesday (today) with Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the chair. The PDM meeting lasted around seven hours during which Nawaz Sharif, who participated through the video link, and Fazlur Rehman were seen on the same page on the issue of fresh elections.

According to sources, the meeting was prolonged not only because of the agenda, but also due to differences on some issues.

The priority of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was to bring about a change in the Punjab through the no-confidence motion and for that purpose, he also sought cooperation of PML-N leadership. However, Nawaz Sharif not only rejected this proposal, but also said mere change of government in the Punjab was not their priority rather they wanted fresh elections.

Fazl also agreed to Nawaz Sharif and reiterated his stance that first resignations should be given from the assemblies and then they should focus on the anti-government movement. Maryam also said it would be unwise to bring a no-confidence vote in the Punjab Assembly only to change the chief minister who would be replaced with a new CM by the government.

The meeting also saw exchange of hot words between Qwais Noorani and Qamar Zaman Kaira when the former asked as to why the opposition parties had not supported Fazlur Rehman for the president’s elections.

Qamar Zaman Kaira responded that the PDM did not exist when the president’s election was held. Fazlur Rehman immediately stepped in and silenced Noorani to cool down the situation. The venue of the meeting that previously was to be held at the Sindh House was shifted to a local hotel in emergency.