PDM's likely nominee Yousuf Raza Gilani asks MQM-P for support ahead of Senate chairman polls

• PPP's Yousuf Raza Gilani will likely be standing for the election for Senate chairman on behalf of the Pakistan Democratic Movement.
• Says MQM had always been supportive when he was premier and he looks to them to cooperate once more.
• MQM convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui says party's "good fortune" that Gilani visited them; a Raabta (Coordination) Committee meeting will decide party's strategy for Senate polls.
  

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Senior PPP leader and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called on a delegation of MQM at Parliament Lodges in Islamabad on Saturday to ask for their support in the upcoming Senate chairman election.

Although the Pakistan Democratic Movement has yet to announce a candidate for Senate chairman and deputy chairman, Gilani will likely be standing for the chairman post on behalf of the opposition, which will be held on March 12 via secret balloting. The deputy chairman will also be elected that day and the MQM have expressed their desire to have a party member occupy the post.

Meanwhile, Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has been announced as the government candidate.

Speaking to the media following the meeting, MQM convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that he considers it the party's "good fortune" that the former prime minister had come to meet them.

He said that a decision on the party's final strategy would be reached when the Raabta (Coordination) Committee convenes later today.

Gilani, who emerged successful in the race for the Senate seat from Islamabad after defeating government candidate Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, said that the PPP's delegation had already met the MQM at the provincial level earlier.

"The PPP has done a lot of work with the MQM in the past," said Gilani, recalling that when amendments to the Constitution were being discussed when he was the prime minister, the MQM had been very supportive.

He said he is now again calling on the MQM to cooperate with the PDM in the name of the Constitution and law. "We contested the Senate election in a constitutional manner," he added.

Gilani said that after the Senate election, there is a "celebratory atmosphere" in the country.

"The vote we got in the Senate election was a vote of confidence against the prime minister," the PPP leader said, adding: "It is wrong to use the word 'bikao' (sellout) for government representatives that got 500,000 votes."

He said that "those who voted for us who do not need money", while regretting that the prime minister is "doubting members of his own party".

"It seems someone told the prime minister to take a vote of confidence and no one will bother him for six months," Gilani added.