ISLAMABAD, March 13: The opposition parties are considering a proposal for a joint opposition leader in the National Assembly with the condition that the office of the opposition leader will rotate among the member parties, officials of the two opposition parties confirmed.
Central Information Secretary of PML-N Siddiqul Farooq told Dawn that a formula in this regard was under consideration which ensured equal representation for all the opposition political parties in the National Assembly.
Under this formula, the post of opposition leader will be held by Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the MMA, Makhdoom Amin Fahim of the PPP, and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of the PML-N on rotation basis.
Senator Farhatullah Babar, PPP spokesman, told Dawn that opposition parties were holding talks on the issue and it had been agreed that effort should be made for a joint opposition leader.
With 18 MNAs, the PML-N holds the key to the election of opposition leaders both in the National Assembly and Senate.
The PPP and the MMA have also laid claim to the slot of opposition leader, who would also be a member of the National Security Council.
Under the rules in case there are more than one candidate for the slot of leader of the opposition, the speaker National Assembly has to “nominate” a person who in his view commands support of maximum number of members.
To bolster its claim for the slot, the PPP has reportedly announced owning the splinter group, PPP Patriots, led by Rao Sikandar Iqbal.
The PPP (Patriots), however, has registered itself as a separate entity with the Election Commission.
