PPP nominates Aitzaz for president

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has nominated Aitzaz Ahsan as its candidate for the president and launched efforts to garner the support of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ((PML-N) in order to field him as a joint candidate.

However, the PML-N has conveyed its reservations to the PPP about announcing its presidential candidate without consulting the other opposition parties. PPP Parliamentarians (PPPP) President Asif Ali Zardari and Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari nominated Aitzaz as the party’s candidate for the president.

The two leaders constituted a committee under Syed Khursheed Shah, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar, Senator Sherry Rehman, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Chaudhry Manzoor to contact the other opposition parties to win their support for Aitzaz.

The committee met former National Assembly Speaker and PML-N senior leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to get the PML-N’s support.

According to sources, Khursheed told the PML-N leader that if they support Aitzaz’s nomination as the joint candidate of the combined opposition, then the PPP will cooperate with them in the National Assembly and the Senate.

Sources said the PPP also proposed that with their combined strength the combined opposition will bring their own Senate chairman replacing the sitting Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. Sources said Sardar Ayaz Sadiq sought some time for consultation with the party’s top leadership.

The PPP delegation also desired a meeting with Shahbaz Sharif. The meeting could be held before the Eid. Meanwhile, Zardari has already sought MMA President Fazlur Rehman’s support for Aitzaz Ahsan.

Zardari is likely to contact the ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan for Aitzaz’s nomination. Meanwhile, the PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafiq has conveyed his reservations to the PPP about announcing Aitzaz as their candidate for the president without consulting the opposition.

"If the PPP really wanted a consensus candidate for the presidential elections, then it should have consulted the PML-N, MMA and other opposition parties. The way they announced their candidate is against the consensus and unity," he tweeted.

Responding to his reservations, Khursheed Shah they had told the PML-N that Aitzaz was not their final candidate but in the consultation process they will suggest the name of their candidate,” he said.

However, he said the final decision would be taken after with consultations. Meanwhile, ANP leader Zahid Khan said a united opposition could defeat the ruling coalition and urged both the major opposition parties to field a joint candidate.