Opposition leader’s slot in Senate: PPP shouldn’t have sought BAP’s support, say Rabbani, Khokhar

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman and senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said on Wednesday that the party should not have taken the support of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Dilawar Khan group in the Senate for the post of opposition leader in the upper house of Parliament. “Though the slot of the opposition leader in the Senate was right of the PPP being a largest single party at the opposition benches, it should not take n the support of the BAP Senators Dilawar group for the slot of opposition leader in the Senate,” he said while answering a query of The News on Wednesday.

Raza Rabbani said the support of BAP Dilawar group in the Senate was not good for the ideological foundations of the PPP. Raza Rabbani said rules of the Senate are clear that the slot goes to single largest party at the opposition benches.

He advised the opposition to keep its unity intact for broader object of supremacy of the constitution and Parliament and objectives of supremacy of the constitution could not be achieved without unity in the ranks of the opposition. “It's time to stand united to achieve the objectives,” he said.Meanwhile, another PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also said that the party should not have to take the support of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) for the opposition leader in the Senate.

“In my view getting the votes from government allied party harmed the party's ideological foundations,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. Khokhar said the PDM parties had weak stance on tendering resignations, while the PPP had on the issue of opposition leader. “The parties of the PDM were putting unnecessary pressure on the issue of resignation, but we should not have secured the votes from the BAP,” he said.

He said the recent decisions of the PDM did not leave positive impact on the people who were already overburdened with the price hike. “The people want to get rid of present government at every cost,” he said, adding that "in-fighting" within PDM strengthened the position of the "highly unpopular government".

He said that if the party is looking to regain its voter base from other provinces, it will have to focus on "politics for the people" rather than "power politics".

Khokhar expressed the hope that in the upcoming meeting of the party's Central Executive Committee, priority will be given to reviewing these observations and formulating a plan of action. "The right to a difference of opinion is a democratic right and I hope my views will be considered keeping in view the same."