PPP to support Ayaz Sadiq for NA speaker vote

ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties, including the Pakistan People’s Party, but not the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have conveyed to the government that they would support it if it put Sardar Ayaz Sadiq for the elections of the Speaker National Assembly.
According to sources, the PPP conveyed to the PML-N through a backdoor consultation that it would support the candidature of Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and if they decided to bring anyone else, the PPP would have to reconsider its decision.
The National Assembly is scheduled to start its autumn session from Friday in which the schedule for the election of the Speaker National Assembly would be announced and voting for the new speaker would be held on Monday (November 9).
All the opposition parties had expressed their readiness to support Sardar Ayaz Sadiq but the PTI had a different stance and they would bring their own candidate for the slot. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had not finalised the name of his party candidate for the new Speaker of the National Assembly. However, there were strong indications that the PML-N would announce its candidate by Friday.
Though the PPP has not taken any decision whether to put its candidate for the post, in a backdoor consultancy process that was going on for the last few days, the PPP communicated to the PML-N that it would have no objection if they brought in Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to regain his position but in case of another candidate, the PPP would take its own decision with the consultation of other political parties.
In the press talk of opposition leader Syed Khursheed Shah on Wednesday, when a question was asked about the PPP decision on the Speaker’s election, he came up with a diplomatic reply saying that the PPP had not taken any decision as yet as they had summoned the parliamentary party meeting on Friday to take up this matter. “We will also discuss with the top leadership of the party and the parliamentary party will follow the party decision,” he added.
But at the same time, he advised the PML-N not to opt for bringing in any new candidate for the slot saying that it would be better for them to bring back the experienced person on this slot as two and a half years were left in the completion of the tenure and if they brought a new face, it would take him one year to get experience. ‘If the experienced one will take charge the office of speaker, it will be easy for him to run the House smoothly,” he added.