PML-N, allies finalise candidates for Senate chairman, deputy

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) held a meeting today, under the chair of party supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to decide on their candidates.

The meeting was attended by senior party leaders, including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Senior PML-N leadership also met with allies, including, National Party leader Hasil Bizenjo, Jamiat Ulema Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as well as independent senators-elects from FATA.

Hasil Bizenjo talking to media after the meeting said that the PML-N and allies have finalised names for the chairman and deputy chairman slots but that they will wait for an announcement from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) till tonight.

The PML-N will back Raza Rabbani if he is fielded by PPP for the chairman slot, otherwise Nawaz Sharif will announce the PML-N candidate in the morning tomorrow, Bizenjo said.

PML-N leader Zaeem Qadri confirmed the same while speaking in Geo News show Lekin.

When asked if the PML-N wants the chairman to be from Balochistan, Qadri said the chairman "should be and will be" from the province.

Sources said that in case the PPP doesn't propose the name of the last Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, the PML-N will bring forth its own candidate for chairman and let allies have the deputy chairman slot.

Earlier, Nawaz had proposed that the party would support Rabbani's re-election as Senate chairman but the PPP dismissed the move.

However, the PPP has now announced its support for Sadiq Sanjrani, an independent Senator-elect from Balochistan, for the slot of Senate chairman.

Speaking to media here, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said that it would field Saleem Mandviwalla for the deputy chairman seat in the election scheduled to take place on Monday.

After a meeting of the PML-N and its allies on Saturday, National Party (NP) leader Hasil Bizenjo had said that apart from his party, the PML-N had the support of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).

The NP leader added that there had been no discussions in the meeting for appointing the chairman from Balochistan. “This is not an issue of Balochistan, rather an issue for the allied parties,” he had said.