Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said that it was not his party but Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which compromised on its position regarding election for Senate top slots, a private television channel reported.

“Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allies voted for our candidates. We are clear on our stance. Imran Khan has changed his while claiming to bring a change. He took U-turn and voted for candidates backed by our party,” said Bilawal while speaking to a private television news channel.

The Senate on March 12 elected opposition-backed candidates Sadiq Sanjrani as chairman and Saleem Mandviwalla as deputy chairman. Sanjrani, an independent senator, and PPP’s Mandviwalla were backed by PPP, PTI and other opposition parties.

About why his party opted for Sanjrani over former chairman and party stalwart Raza Rabbani despite the fact that PML-N too had announced to vote for him, Bilawal said that the party had already decided to expose the rift within the PML-N.

“They (PML-N) wouldn’t have been exposed and I had told Raza Rabbani, well before this election, that I want him to play a bigger role in Karachi ahead of upcoming general election, something he couldn’t do while serving as the Senate chairman,” explained Bilawal.

Answering a question about Imran Khan’s entry in Karachi’s politics, Bilawal compared PTI chief Imran Khan with MQM founder by saying that both of them believe in “politics of hatred and chaos”.

Separately, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani called on the former president Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House on Saturday.

PPP’s candidate for Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman, Jan Jamali, Senator Khoda Babar and others were present. The newly elected Senate chairman thanked President Asif Ali Zardari for his party’s support in his election. He added that people of Balochistan were grateful to the party for always leading the struggle for the genuine rights of the province’s masses.

Published in Daily Times, March 18^th 2018.