Premier, NA opposition leader to deliberate on interim PM names today

Raja Riaz, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, will call on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today (Wednesday) to deliberate on the names of caretaker PM.

The incumbent government is completing its constitutional term in a few days and PM Shehbaz Sharif had already announced that he would send advice to the president for the dissolution of the National Assembly on August 9.

Under the Constitution, the prime minister and opposition leader are required to hold consultations on the names of the caretaker prime minister.

When asked if he has proposed the names for the interim prime minister to the PM, Riaz said he has not met the premier yet.

Riaz is Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissident parliamentarian and became the opposition leader with the support of other rebel MNAs after the former ruling party resigned en masse in April last year.

Responding to another question that the name for interim PM had already been finalised by ruling PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, the opposition leader responded: “Say whatever you want, I have my own opinion.”

He went on to say that he had completed deliberations with his allies on the name of the caretaker PM and he is scheduled to meet the prime minister today.

“My three names are 90% finalised,” he said without elaborating further.

PM to move dissolution summary today

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced that he will send the summary for the dissolution of the National Assembly today to President Arif Alvi.

“After completing our [coalition govt's] tenure, I will write to the president of Pakistan to dissolve the assembly,” the premier said while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad earlier today.

He said the caretaker setup will take the reins of the government.

The dissolution of the National Assembly will pave the way for the commencement of a caretaker government. One name, which consistently remained under discussion for the last few weeks, is that of Dr Hafeez Shaikh.

Shaikh has been the finance minister of the Imran Khan government. Before that, he was the top finance wizard of the last PPP government.

Dr Hafeez Shaikh has also been the favourite of the establishment.