News
Friday, June 22, 2012
New raja takes over today* Khursheed Shah will announce name of PPP nominee for PM slot today at 11am
* Raja Pervez Ashraf replaces Shahab
* National Assembly will elect new leader today
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: The political drama for the nomination of the new prime minister culminated in the selection of PPP stalwart Raja Pervez Ashraf, cancelling the candidature of Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
Shahabuddin, who was named the main candidate of the party for the post of prime minister, which fell vacant after the disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani, suddenly departed from the scene after his warrants were issued over his alleged role in the ephedrine scandal. He had filed his nomination papers for the post on Thursday. The coalition partners of former PPP government, which met at the Presidency, again authorised President Asif Ali Zardari to nominate a candidate for the post.
Earlier, sources in the PPP said the name of Shahabuddin was dropped due to his involvement in the ephedrine scandal. This paved the way for Raja Pervez Ashraf to be leading candidate. He was earlier chosen by the PPP to be the covering candidate for Shahabuddin. The new prime minister will be elected during the National Assembly session today.
Although an official statement released by the Presidency on the meeting did not mention the name of any person for the election of prime minister, sources said that coalition partners agreed on Raja Pervez Ashraf. The meeting also decided that the name of the PPP nominee would be announced by Syed Khursheed Shah at a press conference at 11am on Friday (today), spokesperson to the president Senator Farhatullah Babar said. He said the meeting was part of the consultative process of the allied parties to discuss the prevailing situation and to finalise the strategy in taking forward the democratic process.
The coalition partners, he said, announced their support for the PPP nominee for the office of the prime minister. The meeting was participated by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi, Dr Farooq Sattar, Mir Israrullah Zehri, Afrasiab Khattak, Munir Khan Aurakzai, Babar Ghouri and others. PPP Vice Chairman and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was also present.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk