Alliance for Restoration of Democracy has rejected Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's proposal for boycott of the premier election, saying it will mean giving a walkover to Shaukat Aziz.
"It is our democratic right. We field our candidate for the premier's slot. However, this will be decided with consensus among ARD parties," a senior alliance leader told Business Recorder here on Saturday.
He pointed out that the MMA proposal of boycott or naming imprisoned Javed Hashmi against Shaukat Aziz was based on mala fide intention.
In this context, he referred to a reported statement by PML (N) chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, who said on Friday that Makhdoom Amin Fahim would be their candidate.
The MMA had aired the same proposal at the time of election of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in June.
The ARD is expected to take a decision in this connection by tomorrow (Sunday) for the election likely to be held on Monday or Tuesday.
The main reason why the MMA decided to boycott the election was that they did not want to be exposed, as two of their lawmakers namely, Hamidul Haq and Shah Abdul Aziz, had stopped toeing the line of the alliance of religious parties.
He made it clear that though 76 members voted for Amin Fahim during the election wherein Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain won, as four of them were not available. The PPPP's Naheed Khan and the PML (N)'s Abid Sher Ali were abroad at that time.
After the two MMA legislators decided to adopt a different approach, the tally of MMA members is now 63 instead of 65. Another MNA had deserted the alliance at the time of election of Zafarullah Jamali as the prime minister.
The ARD leader, who preferred not to be named, said that in principle, the parliamentary parties, Pakistan Peoples Parliamentarian, Pakistan Muslim League and Jamhoori Watan Party supported fielding Makhdoom Amin Fahim again.
However, he added that over a dozen parties, which did not have representation in the Parliament, would be taken into confidence prior to any decision on the ARD candidate.
He said that apparently, all the three parliamentary parties, grouped in the ARD, had no objection to Makhdoom's candidature, however, the alliance candidate will be announced formally after consultation between Ms. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
The ARD leader alleged that the sole aim of the MMA was to facilitate the government, however, he was quick to add that a sort of working relationship between the two alliances was possible on issue-to-issue basis.
"Yes, we can even agree on launching a campaign against the rulers, but this will simply not mean that the ARD and the MMA have common policies and approach on issues," he asserted.
The alliance leader said they might also contact the Speaker National Assembly, Chaudhry Amir Hussain, demanding of him to name Makhdoom Amin Fahim as the opposition leader, who commanded support of majority of opposition members.
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