News
Monday, July 22, 2013
PML-N, PPP busy in intense lobbying for presidential pollISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Sunday engaged in an intense lobbying to garner support for their presidential candidates but both remained poles apart to arrive at a consensus candidate.
Sources in the PML-Q said that PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim contacted PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and requested him to withdraw his party’s candidate in favour of the PPP’s nominee. The PPP has nominated Senator Raza Rabbani and PML-Q Senator Saeed Mandokhel for the presidential election.
Sources said the PPP, despite having an understanding with the PML-Q to announce a candidate with the mutual consent, took a “unilateral decision” and nominated Raza Rabbani as its candidate for presidential poll. “This compelled us to come up with our own candidate,” they said. Daily Times, meanwhile, learnt that the PML-N leadership has developed a consensus over the name of Mamnoon Hussain and he is likely to be nominated by the party for the election. Sources said that Justice (r) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui also has some chances for his nomination “but Sartaj Aziz has no chance of being nominated as presidential candidate because his current job of national security adviser is more crucial”.
Also, sourced added, the PML-N wants to pick a person from Sindh for presidential office because of the party’s week roots in that province. To gather support for its presidential candidate, the PML-N committee, which has been tasked with reaching out to other political parties, continued working on Sunday and one of its member Ahsan Iqbal learnt to have contacted JUI-F leaders over the issue. Khawaja Saad Rafiq was tasked with contacting Jamaat-e-Islami leadership and Khawaja Asif with the PPP’s “which turned down the PML-N’s plea to evolve a consensus on the presidential candidate”, sources said.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Central Information Secretary Shireen Mazari told Daily Times that both PML-N and PPP have contacted the PTI to seek support for their presidential candidates but the party has announced its own candidate for the election. staff report
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk