Shehbaz vows to expose 'those who sold their conscience' after failed no-confidence motion
Shehbaz wrote: 'We will get down to the bottom of the matter and those who sold their conscience will be exposed'
August 01, 2019
ISLAMABAD: Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday vowed to expose "those who sold their conscience" after a no-confidence motion against Senate Chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani failed.
Sanjrani, as well as Deputy Chairperson Saleem Mandviwalla, survived no-confidence resolutions tabled against them.
Shehbaz, on his Twitter account, wrote: "Horsing trading won and democracy got undermined again today. It is not just Opposition's loss.
"We will get down to the bottom of the matter and those who sold their conscience will be exposed," he added.
Prior to his tweet, he spoke informally to media personnel outside the Parliament House in the federal capital, saying the result of the no-confidence motion against Senate Chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani was damaging to democracy.
Shehbaz — also the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — said he believed that there had been influencing and horse-trading during the vote on the no-confidence motion against Sanjrani.
The Opposition members had reduced by 14 but 64 of them had stood up in support of the motion to table the no-confidence resolution, he said, adding that what happened today was a dent to the democracy.
On the other hand, PML-N member and leader of the opposition in the Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq, said what happened today was sad. "We know who did not vote [in favour of the no-confidence motion]," he noted.
Haq added that the Opposition was aware by early Thursday morning as to how many votes the no-confidence motion would receive later in the day.
"Mostly, people from a certain party ruined it. The forces that wished to save the Senate chairperson emerged the victors," he added.
PM Imran's narrative stands vindicated
Prime Minister Imran Khan's narrative stood vindicated in the Senate, his special assistant on information and broadcasting, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, had said Thursday evening.
Dr Awan had noted that a majority of the Senators had rejected the Opposition's move to remove Sanjrani, thereby, vindicating the narrative of PM Imran.
The resolution against the Senate chair failed to receive the 53 votes required for his removal, with 50 in favour and five rejected. A similar resolution tabled by the government against Mandviwalla, the Senate's deputy chair, had also failed, receiving only 32 votes.
