Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani has strictly warned Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla against extending invitation to any foreign dignitary to visit the country, saying under the rules as the deputy chairman cannot do such things without consulting the chairman.
In a letter written to his deputy, Sanjrani, made it crystal clear, "As per rules and a policy, the invitations are extended by the Senate chairman. You are requested to kindly consult me before extending invitations to any foreign dignitaries." The letter from Sanjrani came as a shock for Mandviwalla, as the former is occupying the coveted slot of chairman Senate solely due to support of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Senate elections held this year in March.
"I would like to know wherein the rules prohibit the deputy chairman to extend invitations to foreign dignitaries on reciprocity basis," a perturbed deputy chairman asked the chairman Senate. The sources said that the relations between the duo have soured after exchange of letters, and some senior PPP leaders with the support of PTI are considering to settle the scores with Sanjrani especially after the episode of Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
Sanjrani had banned the entry of the information minister from attending the sittings of the last session under pressure from opposition MPs, especially from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) who had demanded to ban the entry of the minister for using derogatory language against their leadership.
However, the sources said that a no confidence motion against the Senate chairman may not be possible as he has the full backing of the powerful establishment and this was the reason he was installed as Senate chairman despite having no majority in the Upper House in a bid to bar PML-N - the majority seat winning party in the Senate - from bringing its own chairman.
A senior senator having three consecutive terms in the Senate said that the Senate chairman is right to some extent as it is the prerogative of the chairman to send invitation to foreign dignitaries to visit the country.
"He [Sanjrani] could have simply told his deputy [Mandivalla] to stop all this instead of writing a letter," he added. "It may not be wrong if I may say he [Sanjrani] is a control freak," he quipped.
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