ISLAMABAD: After the nail-biting Senate elections, both major political parties — PML-N and PPP — on Saturday formally launched their campaigns to gain the support of smaller parties for the coveted offices of Senate chairman and deputy chairman.

Background interviews with leaders in the two parties, who have got almost equal representation in the Senate, revealed that both were ready to offer the office of deputy chairman to their allies in return for support for their candidate for the chairman’s slot.

Sources said that the ruling PML-N was considering offering the deputy chairman’s office to its nationalist allies from Balochistan, whereas PPP also seemed ready to offer the post to its partners on the opposition benches.

Read: Senate elections: Fata MNAs challenge presidential ordinance in SC

A senior PPP office-bearer, who is privy to internal party meetings taking place at the Zardari House, told Dawn that there was no harm in offering the office of the deputy chairman to smaller parties such as the MQM or the ANP for the sake of consensus on the chairman’s slot.

The PPP leader also said that the party had almost agreed that both Senate chairman and the deputy chairman should be from the smaller provinces and not from Punjab.

PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, who has been in Islamabad over the past week, sent a two-member party delegation to meet JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday to discuss the possibility of cooperation between the two parties in the elections.

JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai said that PPP leaders Raza Rabbani and Senator Abdul Qayyum Soomro had met the maulana and sought the JUI-F’s support.

Mr Achakzai said that no specific names for the two Senate offices had come under discussion during the meeting.

Talking to Dawn, Raza Rabbani said both sides had a general discussion on the issue and both agreed that consensus candidates should be fielded for the top offices.

Teams set up to contact smaller parties

Spokesperson for the PPP co-chairman Senator Farhat­ullah Babar told Dawn that Mr Zardari was scheduled to meet PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Chaudhry Pervez Elahi on Saturday, but the meeting could not take place as the PML-Q leaders could not make it to Islamabad because of bad weather.

According to Mr Babar, the meeting was now expected to take place on Sunday or Monday.

He said Mr Zardari had an in-house discussion with some party leaders, including PPP Punjab president Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, on the issue.

A source in PPP said that the party leadership might convene a joint meeting of all the allied parties on Monday to finalise a strategy and the names of candidates for the two offices.

At the ruling party’s end, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar spoke to National Party (NP) president Senator Hasil Bizenjo and Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan over telephone.

Later, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid denied TV channel reports that PML-N had offered the position of Senate chairman to Mr Bizenjo.

Mr Rashid said he had spoken to Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq whereas Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique had established contact with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Meanwhile, the state news agency reported that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had sent letters to the senators-elect and felicitated them on their victory.

The prime minister, who was in Saudi Arabia on the polling day, expressed the hope that the newly-elected senators would play their “role for the supremacy of Constitution, strengthening of the federating units, safeguarding the democratic norms and development of the country.”

Except for the four senators of the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata), the upper house of parliament is now in place to elect a new chairman and deputy chairman.

The president has convened the sitting of the Senate on March 12 to elect its chairman and deputy chairman.

According to sources, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who returned from Saudi Arabia on Friday night, discussed the post-Senate election scenario with members of his kitchen cabinet. The participants decided to approach all parties, including those sitting on the opposition benches, to develop a consensus on the candidates for the offices of chairman and deputy chairman.

The sources said that Mr Sharif had assigned the task of contacting the political parties to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and three ministers – Ishaq Dar, Pervez Rashid and Saad Rafique.  

Talking to Dawn, Mr Rafique said he and the information minister had met PML-Q secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed and JUI-F leader Akram Khan Durrani to discuss the post-Senate election situation.

Mr Rafique said that they also planned to meet the PPP leadership as PML-N wanted to have a cordial relationship with all the parties to ensure smooth legislation process in the upper house of parliament in future.

“The purpose of our meetings with the political parties is beyond getting support for the offices of Senate chairman and deputy chairman. We want that there should be no criticism for the sake of criticism in the Senate,” he added.

Mr Rafique said so far they had received a positive response from all parties.

Published in Dawn March 8th , 2015

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