The Like-Minded Group of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) Wednesday questioned the legitimacy of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain as party president, saying overnight changes were made to the party constitution just to pave for his third term election.
Speaking at a press conference, Salim Saifullah Khan who is head of PML-Q Like-Minded Group said that Shujaat got elected as party president for third term by an overnight amendment to the party constitution. We have filed a case in Lahore High Court (LHC) on the issue which is still pending.
The conflict among different factions of PML-Q had intensified after Shujaat issued a warning of disqualification through defection clause if his party members violated the policy over selection of new opposition leader in Senate, demanding separate seats on the opposition benches.
Following the warning of his former party head, Salim Saifullah made it crystal clear that his group consisting eleven senators would stick to its guns in support of Senator Ishaq Dar of PML-N as opposition leader in Senate. The senator went a step further warning that if Chaudhry Shujaat continued his interventionist polices, making all the members to toe his line of action blindly, we may ask for his removal as parliamentary leader.
"This won't work at all...the number of senators, which is currently eleven, may swell to fifteen or more after his (Shujaat) decision of joining the coalition without listening to the viewpoint of majority members", he added. He said that defection clause is not applicable on their move to part ways as it can only come into action when the party members do not follow the party line for vote of no-confidence or money bill. As far as application of the clause is concerned, he added, selection of opposition leader has nothing to do with their disqualification.
The senator was upbeat in reiterating that he along with other fellow senators would keep their political identity in tact and sit on opposition benches with quite a large number of members of the lower house. Khan maintained that we are ready to go the extent of disqualification but will not budge from their stance of playing the role of a healthy opposition. "What may come, we don't care...we are ready to sacrifice our slots for the sake of the country", he added.
About possible merger with PML-N like Unification Bloc of PML-Q in Punjab Assembly, he did not negate the option, which is clear from their support to Ishaq Dar as opposition leader in Senate at this critical juncture. The senator said that Chaudhrys of Gujrat joined the coalition government of ruling PPP merely to serve their own personal interest.