Co-Chairman Pakistan People's Party (PPP) President Asif Ali Zardari has constituted a committee to probe the unexpected defeat of party's candidate from Punjab, Aslam Gill, in the recently held Senate elections and to finalise the name of party's candidate for Chairman Senate slot.
Source said that PPP was considering three names for the coveted post including Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Mian Raza Rabbani and Babar Awan. The sources added that Faryal Talpur MNA, sister of President Asif Ali Zardari, presented initial investigation report on the defeat of Aslam Gill before the Core Committee of PPP during its meeting held here at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani jointly chaired the meeting.
The sources said that according to the report as many as five members of Punjab Assembly did not vote for Aslam Gill. Talpur told the meeting that three MPAs had also held a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif in February 2012. She said that phone calls of some party MPAs were also recorded.
The sources further said that the PPP's Parliamentary Party in Punjab Assembly would meet under Faryal Talpur today (Tuesday) to discuss overall political situation in the Province.
The sources said that the PPP Core Committee was considering the names of Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Mian Raza Rabbani and Babar Awan for the slot of Senate's chairman, saying that PPP has decided in principle to replace Farooq H Naik. They maintained that the PPP would try its level best to keep the slot of Deputy Chairman of the Senate within the party.
Meanwhile a press release issued from Presidency said that the President had advised the Party to set up a committee on how best to proceed for the nominee of the key posts of Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Upper House of the Parliament and to probe that how Aslam Gill lost the Senate seat in Punjab.
It said that briefing media President's Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that political situation with particular reference to the post-Senate elections was discussed during the meeting.
The participants felicitated the President Zardari and party leadership that PPP had emerged as the single largest party in the Senate. They also noted that the government led by Prime Minister Gilani had achieved unique distinction of holding two consecutive Senate elections during its tenure despite the hurdles created by the detractors.
The meeting decided to employ this distinct political advantage of the party in the service of democracy and welfare of the people in a sustained and systematic manner. The president advised that the Party should set up a committee on how best to proceed on it.
The forthcoming address of the President to the Parliament was also discussed during the meeting. This would be the fifth address in a row of the President to the Parliament. The meeting called upon the Government that maximum possible relief should be provided to the common man in the forthcoming budget.
Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Water & Power, briefed the meeting about energy and power situation in the country. The meeting said that load shedding and power shortages were serious issues that impacted the people and called for stepping up efforts for overcoming the energy crisis.
Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Interior, gave briefing on the overall law & order situation including the situation in Balochistan and the Kohistan bus firing incident. President's Spokesperson said that the President also informed that he would be meeting the heads of allied parties later in the evening to discuss post-Senate elections situation. The meeting also dilated upon the post-Senate election issues that were to be taken up with the heads of allied parties on Monday night.
The meeting was of the view that policy of reconciliation has yielded political dividends and strengthened political forces in the country. The meeting decided that in order to further strengthen political forces, the Party would continue to pursue policy of reconciliation.
The meeting reposed full confidence in the leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Those who were present during the meeting included Senator Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, A. Rehman Malik, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Din, Syed Naveed Qamar, Dr Babar Awan, Jahangir Badar, Faisal Raza Abidi, Sardar Ali Khan, Farhatullah Babar, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Raja Parvez Ashraf, Fouzia Wahab, Rukhsana Bangash and Fouzia Habib.