ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has claimed that his party had supported Sadiq Sanjrani in the election for the Senate chairman in 2018 because he had pledged to join the PPP after his election.

The claim was made by the PPP chairman while speaking to members of the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) at a dinner hosted by PPP Senator Islamuddin Sheikh here on Thursday, a day before the oath-taking of the newly-elected senators and the election of the new Senate chairman in which Mr Sanjrani is facing joint opposition candidate Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

“No one knows why we voted for Sadiq Sanjrani as the Senate chairman. At that time, some of our colleagues from the Punjab thought that we cannot be partners in politics with the (then ruling) Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N),” said the PPP chairman while commenting on a video clip which has gone viral on social media in which Mr Sanjrani has been shown talking informally to some unidentified people and boasting over his victory in the Senate chairman election by not letting PPP stalwart Raza Rabbani regain the office.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari claimed that after his election as an independent candidate from Balochistan, Mr Sanjrani had come to his house and sought help for getting elected as the Senate chairman.

He said that Mr Sanjrani had told him that he would join the PPP after winning the election. “Mr Sadiq Sanjrani was even ready to take oath on the holy Quran in front of me (that he will) join the PPP,” he said.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that he stopped Mr Sanjrani from taking oath on the Quran, saying that “his words are trusted”. He regretted that Mr Sanjrani did not keep his promise.

The PPP chairman said that the government spokespersons were constantly trying to drag institutions into politics by declaring Mr Sanjrani as the state’s candidate.

The PDM, he said, would oppose the puppet government in the Senate.

“It is in the interest of the country to allow politicians to play their positive role. If a PDM panel is elected in the Senate then Yousuf Raza Gilani and Abdul Ghafoor Haideri will also take care of the senators of other political parties,” he said.

“It has been decided that under no circumstances will the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate be from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI),” he declared.

Prominent among those present at the dinner were PPP’s Women Wing president and Sindh MPA Faryal Talpur, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Farhatullah Babar, Syed Naveed Qamar, Faisal Karim Kundi, Abdul Qadir Patel, Latif Khosa and Khawaja Saad Rafique.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2021