Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday appointed Senator Raza Rabbani, leader of the House in the Senate. Earlier, Senator Raza Rabbani of PPP was serving as Leader of the Opposition during the previous government and Senator Waseem Sajjad was the leader of the House.
Waseem Sajjad submitted his resignation to caretaker prime minister Mohammadmian Soomro, and the resignation was accepted. He left the office vacant for the new government to appoint its nominee for the slot, saying that it was not constitutional requirement to resign, but it was a parliamentary convention that the new prime minister nominates a person of his choice as Leader of the Upper House.
The decision to appoint Senator Raza Rabbani as the Leader of the House was taken with the consultation of its coalition partners according to party sources. Some recent reports suggested that Rabbani's appointment was made after Rabbani declined the offer of becoming a minister in the new cabinet. Being a minister, he was obliged to take oath from President Pervez Musharraf and he was reluctant to do so, according to some reports.