Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif will become his brother’s successor in parliament and the party’s candidate for prime minister.

“If you support anyone after me, I ask you to support Shehbaz Sharif,” said Nawaz during the PML-N parliamentary party meeting held at the Punjab House on Saturday.

Nawaz also announced that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will be the interim candidate until Shehbaz is elected to a National Assembly seat.

“It will take Shehbaz Sharif 50-55 days to take over as prime minister. He will have to contest elections. For the interim period, I am recommending Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for the position of prime minister.”

Shehbaz Sharif, 65, is currently serving as the chief minister of Punjab province that accounts for more than half of Pakistan’s 190 million people. He will also need to resign from his current post in order to be eligible for the post of prime minister.

Abbasi, 58, is a staunch Sharif loyalist and had been the petroleum minister in his cabinet until Friday, when Sharif resigned after the Supreme Court (SC) disqualified him following a corruption probe.

During his address to party leaders, the former prime minister said that he was proud that his disqualification was not due allegations of corruption brought against him.

“I am proud that my disqualification was not because of corruption,” Nawaz said. “Not a single corruption charge was proven against me,” he stressed.

Upon Nawaz Sharif’s arrival at the Punjab House for the meeting, Maryam Nawaz tweeted: “Prime Minister or not the Prime Minister, his love resides in the hearts. Nawaz Sharif gets a rousing welcome at the parliamentary party meeting.”