Two days after the opposition parties came together in the All Parties Conference (APC) to agree on having the incumbent chairman Senate removed from his office, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has put weight behind Sadiq Sanjrani and voiced complete support for him. To this effect, a delegation comprising lawmakers from the federal government called on the chairman Senate on Friday and assured him of their complete support against the opposition's any move to send him packing. Following this development, the lawmakers from treasury benches in the Senate and National Assembly have started lobbying to garner sufficient support to foil a no-confidence motion in case the opposition decides to move this motion in the Upper House of the Parliament to have the chairman Senate removed from office, a PTI senator told Business Recorder, requesting anonymity.
The senators from treasury benches led by Leader of the House in Senate Shibli Faraz would soon hold a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan to finalise a strategy to avert opposition's possible move against the incumbent chairman Senate, the source said.
Agreement on having the chairman Senate removed "through legal and constitutional means" was one of the major highlights of the opposition parties' APC convened by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlu Rehman, earlier on Wednesday. The suggestion to have the chairman Senate removed was floated in the APC by Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali, who was of the reported view that the opposition parties should lobby for a "pro-opposition chairman Senate." The conclave also agreed to form an 11-member panel named "Rahbar Committee" to decide about the candidate for new slot of chairman Senate (if Sanjrani gets removed from office).
In its response, a government delegation led by Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza met Sadiq Sanjrani at his chamber at the Parliament House. Though Fehmida herself is a Member of National Assembly (MNA), she assured the chairman on behalf of senators from treasury benches to play their active role against opposition's plan regarding Sanjrani's removal. "We would not let the chairman go," the minister told the media after the meeting on Friday.
The chairman Senate, who was standing next to Fehmida, refused to comment when asked about opposition's plan to have him de-seated from the Upper House's chairmanship.
Sanjrani said he has run the House business without taking sides. "Ever since becoming the chairman of the Senate, it has had been my topmost priority to run the affairs of Senate with utmost sincerity, dedication and objectivity. My preference has always been to run the House in a balanced manner and treat every senator equally with respect and dignity regardless of one's political affiliation."
Fehmida Mirza expressed her surprise why the opposition wants to have Sanjrani removed. "It's not opposition but the treasury benches that sometimes feel that opposition senators are given more leverage during the house proceedings. The opposition's plan to have the chairman Senate removed from the office does not hold any justification and we would not let this happen. He (Sanjrani) has run the House business to the best of his abilities in a very polite, gentle and impartial manner," she said.
Constitutionally, in case the opposition decides to bring a no-confidence motion against chairman Senate, it would require the support of at least one-fourth of total membership of Senate (26 out of 104) to have the motion passed. If the motion is passed, a vote would be held to determine the will of the House - whether the senators want to retain the chairman or remove him from office. If majority vote (of the senators present at the time of voting) is cast in favour of the chairman, he retains his seat. If majority vote goes against him, he stands removed from the office.
Numerically, the opposition parties' strength is 65 seats (excluding two seats of Jamaat-e-Islami which did not participate in APC) in the Senate. One senator-elect Ishaq Dar from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), who is in the United Kingdom, has not taken oath as a senator and is therefore not eligible to vote.
On the other hand, the strength of PTI and its allies stands at 38 seats in Senate. But given that voting on no-confidence motion is held through secret ballot, the chances for a senator to change his/her loyalty and vote against party policy stand high. "The PTI-led treasury benches may not be in majority in the Senate but they are in the government and the government has the potential of drawing maximum leverage from secret ballot-horse trading cannot be stopped in secret ballot because it cannot be determined who voted for whom," said an opposition senator, requesting anonymity.
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