Gilani’s election reopened old wounds: PML-N

LAHORE: In their interaction with the media, leaders of PPP and PML-N have defended their positions on the election of Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

PML-N leader Khurram Dastgir said all PML-N parliamentarians had voted for Gilani’s election as Senator. He said Gilani’s election is a setback to the vision for which PDM had been formed. He said old wounds have been reopened. PML-N’s Azam Nazeer Tarar said the PDM parties had concluded that the Senate chairmanship would go to the PPP being the single largest party in the House, and the PML-N would name its candidate for Leader of the Opposition.

PML-N leader Amzma Bukhari and Hina Pervez Butt lamented that PDM’s decision was bypassed in getting Yusuf Raza Gilani elected as opposition leader.PPP’s Faisal Karim Kundi said PPP is the majority party in the Senate. He said it’s not about BAP. He said two ANP senators, those from the former Fata and Jamaat-e-Islami supported the PPP. He said Maulana Fazl ur Rahman should have called PDM meeting before the election.

PML-N leader Musadik Malik said that the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) support to Yusuf Raza Gilani for his election as the opposition leader in Senate had also raised various questions. He said now that issue would be placed before the PDM meetings and the situation would become clear soon how many opposition members were in Senate and who had supported whom during this process,

PTI leaders Sadaqat Abbasi, Usman Dar and Farrukh Habib, in their separate statements, said that they had differences with the opposition parties but they would like to congratulate Yusuf Raza Gilani over being elected as the opposition leader in Senate. Sadaqat Abbasi said the PPP showed more political maturity while Maryam Nawaz proved to be immature politically.

Another PTI leader Farrukh Habib said the opposition parties had been fighting against each other, and the ruling parties was not in need of opposing them.PTI’s Usman Dar said the PDM had shattered completely. It had been claiming that Islamabad would be full of the opposition parties’ activists in March this year, but they had started fighting each other for their vested interests.

PPP leader Ali Musa Gilani said Pakistan People’s Party was also hurt by statements of the PML-N leaders. He said both the parties should have sit together and resolved their differences with consensus.Sherry Rehman said the PPP was a majority opposition party in Senate and it was its legal right to get appointed its opposition leader in the upper house of the Parliament.