Nawaz preempts Zardari by suggesting Rabbani as Senate chief

ISLAMABAD: By favouring Mian Raza Rabbani, belonging to the rival political force, as the next senate chairman, the ousted Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, tried to preempt ex-president Asif Ali Zardari to nominate someone else.

However, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supremo quickly disapproved the proposal as he has some other preference for the Upper House chief’s slot. He thus demonstrated that the decisions about his party are to be taken by him and not by an outsider.

Rabbani deserves the treatment the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allied parties extended in recognition of his exceptional democratic credentials and non-partisan role. Before the outgoing Senate chief’s own party selected or ignored him, Nawaz Sharif took the lead despite being his being the single largest party.

If there is no consensus on Rabbani, and it is clear as of now that there will not be, a contest will take place, which will be perfectly democratic. In this clash Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will be between a rock and a hard place if it will have to choose between the PML-N and PPP to partner with in this poll.

The third option available to the PTI, most plausible from its point of view that it is going to follow, is to refrain from supporting either of the two major parties and sponsor its own nominee in the March 12 clash. However, its solo flight may be more detrimental for the PPP than the PML-N as the latter has a clear edge over the former and would not be seeking its votes. The PPP actually needs the PTI’s help.

Obviously, the PTI’s joining forces with the PML-N or PPP will nullify its perennial toxic campaign against them, which Imran Khan will intensify in the electioneering for the upcoming parliamentary polls.

However, it will be a huge godsend for the PPP if the PTI teams up with it in a bid to defeat the PML-N. Bearing in mind the overall tough time thrust upon the PML-N, there is a remote possibility that the PPP and PTI may be pushed to break bread to deprive their common foe of the top Upper House berth.

The PPP will be more than willing to offer the position of the deputy chairman to the PTI that has 12 senators, who were elected by the same Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly that came into existence as a result of the 2013 elections.

In addition, the PPP-PTI alliance may send a positive message to the fence sitters that their support to it would be received well by different circles. But a hard fact that those conceiving such a coalition seem to discount is that it will still be short of the requisite number to elect its chairman because the overall tally of the PML-N and its allies is ahead of it.

Immediately, the PPP’s 20 senators and PTI’s 12 MPs can bring their combined numbers to 32 MPs apart from the independents recently elected from Balcohistan that the PPP claims to be with it. Except at least two senators, belonging to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), who are openly with the PML-N, it will be premature for any side counting the remaining six MPs from this region with it because they have a history of going with any party.