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Sunday, July 21, 2013
Manoeuvring for presidential polls in full swing* Kh Asif contacts Khursheed Shah; PPP asks PTI to field joint candidate
* PTI nominates Justice (r) Wajihuddin as candidate
ISLAMABAD: With the presidential elections nearing, consultations have started between the government and the opposition on the candidates.
Federal Minister for Water and Power and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Asif has contacted leader of the opposition Khursheed Shah on telephone and discussed the upcoming presidential polls. Media reports claimed that during their conversation, Khawaja Asif spoke about three candidates shortlisted by the PML-N for the slot of president. They are Sartaj Aziz, Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqi and Mamnun Hussain. Responding to the discussion, sources claimed Khursheed Shah said he would respond on them after consulting his party leadership.
Asif is a member of the PML-N committee which was formed to contact other political parties to obtain their support for the party’s candidate in the presidential election which is to be held on August 6. Speaking to media after meeting with Asif, the opposition leader said he told the PML-N’s envoy that a fourth name that merited consideration for the position of president was that of Raza Rabbani, a PPP leader and a senator. Shah said he urged the PML-N’s representative to ensure support to Rabbani’s candidature, adding that he had already requested the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to extend their backing to the PPP leader’s nomination.
The PPP leader added that the party was also going to request the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) as well as Fazlur Rehman to support Rabbani’s candidature. Khursheed Shah has contacted Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the PTI and asked him to field a joint candidate of the opposition for the presidential elections, media has reported. However, Qureshi told Shah that the PTI has decided to field Justice (r) Wajihuddin for the president’s office.
The government has decided to once again move the Election Commission of Pakistan to change the date of the presidential election, sources said on Saturday. The sources said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wanted to perform Umrah during the last Ashra of Ramazan and he would not be present in the country on August 6. They said that the PML-N would discuss the issue with other political parties. The party would propose July 29 or 30 as the new date for election after getting cooperation from other political parties. Meanwhile, PPP’s Senator Aitzaz Ashan has said that the election commission cannot change the date of the presidential election. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk