NA to have leader of opposition before budget session

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly will have its leader of the opposition by the end of the month before the budget session commencing on June 1. The budget session will continue for one month. 

Highly-placed parliamentary sources told The News here the other day that the upcoming session (42nd) of the lower house of Parliament starting on May 9 will transact business with acting leader of the opposition Ghaus Bux Khan Mehar of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), a member of the house from NA-199 Shikarpur ll. 

The GDA was an ally of the ousted PTI government but parted ways with it on the question of quitting the house.

Important legislation business is being worked out by the branch concerned of the NA for the next session. PTI’s dissident members Noor Alam Khan NA-27 Peshawar-l and Raja Riaz Ahmad NA-110 Faisalabad-X have also approached the Speaker’s Secretariat for their appointment as leader of opposition. 

The sources disclosed that Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf, who has also served as Prime Minister of the country, will take the decision about the nomination of the leader of opposition once the verification of the resignations supposedly tendered by the PTI members collectively last month is completed. He has made up his mind to conclude the task of verification within a month before the budget session starts. More than 60 members of the PTI have approached the NA secretariat for early verification of their resignations attributed to them since they are keen to attend the 42nd session of the lower house. The PTI submitted resignations of 123 members, including those who were elected independent and later joined the PTI. The sources pointed out that 23 members, who were declared dissident by the PTI and party leadership, have submitted reference against them for declaration of their seat vacant under Article 63-A of the Constitution but they are hopeful that the party leadership has no case against them. They are of the view that the references were filed on mere hearsay and in the absence of any evidence against them. They are confident to continue as member of the National Assembly till its expiry.

The Speaker’s office told this scribe that verification of the resignations would be started immediately after the Eid vacations this week. If PTI Chairman Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi and any other stalwart of the party is interested to get verification of his/their resignation earlier, the speaker would be prepared to listen to him/them. After their endorsement process of forwarding the resignation to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for notifying their seat as vacant initiated, by-election process would start forthwith. According to the schedule of the speaker, the PTI chairman and other leaders would be summoned at the end of the process, the sources added.