LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said on Wednesday it was in negotiations with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to arrive at a consensus over the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.

According to the PML-N, the issue has not been taken up formally, but it will definitely come up for discussion soon.

“The PML-N will be asked to choose either the opposition leader in the Senate or in the National Assembly, leaving one of the two offices for the PPP,” a party office-bearer told Dawn.

He expressed the hope the N-League would realise before long that it must take along other parties on opposition benches, particularly the PPP, for a better working relationship in parliament, he added.

The PML-N’s information secretary, Mushahidullah Khan, told Dawn by phone from Islamabad that the subject would be taken up in the coming sittings of the joint opposition.

At present, PPP’s Sherry Rehman is opposition leader in Senate

He, however, said the discussion would not remain confined to the two slots of opposition leader, but would also encompass the Senate chairman and deputy chairman as well as cooperation in provincial assemblies.

Post-election scenario: PML-N runs from pillar to post for speaker slots in Punjab, Centre

At present, PPP’s Sherry Rehman is opposition leader in the upper house of parliament. The party also managed to install its deputy chairman in cooperation with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and independents from Balochistan earlier this year.

“There’s likely to be a package deal as other players on opposition benches, e.g. the Muttahida Majlis Amal and the parties of Mehmood Achakzai and Hasil Bizenjo, will have to be accommodated for building a joint platform against the PTI. And the PPP will have to adjust its demands and role accordingly,” the PML-N leader said.

For the first time in the country’s parliamentary history, independent senators have become a major stakeholder with a strength of 32. The PPP follows with a strength of 20 members, PML-N (17) and PTI (12).

The MMA enjoys the backing of six senators, the Bizenjo-led National Party and MQM have five senators each, Achakzai’s PkMAP three, the Awami National Party, PML-Functional and BNP-Mengal one each.

Makhdoom’s plea

Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmood, a former governor of Punjab, has urged the opposition parties to accept PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as the opposition leader in the National Assembly.

During a discussion with a group of reporters on Wednesday, he claimed that he had suggested to the PML-N leadership that as they were nearing retirement from politics, they should groom fresh faces by taking a cue from the PPP.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2018