ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Yousuf Raza Gilani was officially appointed as the leader of Opposition in the upper house of Parliament today (Friday), hours after he filed the application for his candidacy.
The Senate secretariat issued a statement announcing the PPP leader’s appointment. Earlier in the day, Gilani, along with Senator Sherry Rehman reached the Parliament House and met Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, to whom the nomination papers were submitted.
Talking to the media after submitting the request, Sherry Rehman said the application had been filed with signatures from a total of 30 senators – 21 from the PPP, two from the Awami National Party, one from the Jamaat-i-Islami, two from members belonging to FATA and four from the independent group of Dilawar Khan.
Speaking on reports of rifts between Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Sherry Rehman said the move was not the PDM’s funeral but the PPP’s right. Meanwhile, Gillani said he had not been aware of how many senators were ready to back him.
As per the rules, the Chairman Senate has to declare a member as Leader of the Opposition if they have the support of the majority of the members in opposition.
The issue of the Senate opposition leader has created disagreements in the ranks of the opposition alliance with both the PML-N and PPP publicly claiming their right to the key office.
PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also said that PML-N should get the post and reportedly talked to PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to ask him to respect the decision taken by the PDM leaders.
The PPP, however, had responded by saying the situation is no more the same after the March 12 debacle, which saw Gilani losing the election for the top slot in the Senate despite seemingly having the support of majority in the Upper House.
