ISLAMABAD: PPP Senator Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan is set to become leader of opposition in the upper house of parliament for the second consecutive term after getting support of the majority of opposition members in the house.

According to sources in the Senate Secretariat, Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani is expected to issue a notification about the appointment of Mr Ahsan over the next few days.

Also read: Parliament watch: Cleaner Senate elections, same old dirty politics

Saeed Ghani, the newly appointed parliamentary leader of PPP in the Senate, told Dawn on Sunday that they had already submitted a formal request to the office of the chairman seeking appointment of Mr Ahsan as opposition leader.

He said that 46 opposition members had put their signatures on the request. He claimed that Mr Ahsan had the support of all opposition parties, except the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami.

It indicates that the PTI and JI would play the role of an ‘independent opposition’ in the Senate. It is for the first time that the PTI has got representation in the Senate following the election of its six senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the March 5 polls. JI Emir Sirajul Haq is the lone senator of Jamaat-i-Islami in the upper house.

Answering a question, Saeed Ghani said that knowing the stance of the PTI and JI they had deliberately not asked members from the two parties to put their signatures on the request.

Mr Ahsan, he said, had been supported by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party, PML-Q, Balochistan National Party-Awami and two independent senators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

PPP has 28 senators, MQM eight, ANP seven, PML-Q three and BNP-A three in the upper house of parliament.

Published in Dawn March 23rd , 2015

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