Yousaf Raza Gillani urges PM Imran Khan to vote for him in Senate elections
Yousaf Raza Gillani is the PDM's joint candidate from Islamabad
March 01, 2021
- Gillani urges PM Imran Khan to vote for him
- Former PM Gillani urges lawmakers to think about future of the country
- Senate elections will be held on March 3
ISLAMABAD: PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gillani on Monday urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to vote for him in the upcoming Senate elections which will be held two days later.
Gillani — who is contesting the Senate seat from the PDM's platform in the upcoming polls on the Islamabad seat against Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh — has written a letter to all lawmakers to support him in the election.
Read more: Senate polls: PDM candidate Yousuf Raza Gilani contacts Akhtar Mengal
He sent the same letter addressed to members of the National Assembly, seeking support for his candidacy, to the prime minister as well.
As per the contents of the letter, the PPP leader has urged lawmakers to vote for him, keeping in mind his character and politics in mind. In the letter, Gillani has stressed on the lawmakers to think about the future of the country as the election of the Senate will profoundly impact it.
The former prime minister said he took the decision of contesting the Senate elections after giving it much thought.
Read more: PDM fully united for Senate elections 2021, says Fazlur Rehman
Before the Senate polls, the PDM had announced that the alliance was on one page concerning the nomination of Gillani as its candidate from Islamabad.
Earlier, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had offered full support to PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari for Gilani.
Gillani has been actively campaigning to win the upcoming election. Earlier, he contacted the chief of BNP (Mengal) Sardar Akhtar Mengal to discuss the current political situation of the country.
The PPP and other political parties have expressed confidence that the government will lose the upcoming Senate elections with PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari going so far as to say that PM Imran Khan will no longer remain prime minister after the elections.
PTI looks to bolster support
The government, on the other hand, has levelled accusations at the Opposition, accusing it of seeking to buy votes for the upper house. The PTI, on the other hand, has also held meetings with ally parties to bolster support for its candidates in the upcoming Senate election.
The PTI had last week sent a high-powered delegation to meet with leaders of its allies Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).
The meeting was held in a bid to win maximum seats in the upcoming Senate polls in Sindh.
Read more: It appears as if establishment is 'completely neutral', says Yousaf Raza Gillani
Leaders of the three political parties, which are also coalition partners in the federal government and part of the combined opposition in the Sindh Assembly, agreed to jointly take part in the March 3 Senate elections and mulled several strategies for the distribution of tickets for five seats of the Upper House of Parliament, including three general, and one each reserved for technocrats and women, The News reported.
They also discussed the steps to curb horse-trading in the Senate polls. The PTI delegation comprised three federal ministers Asad Umar, Dr Hafeez Shaikh, Muhammad Mian Soomro and former opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi.
Sheikh is a PTI candidate for the Senate polls from Islamabad. At noon, the PTI delegation met the MQM-P leaders at the latter's office in Karachi’s Bahadurabad where they deliberated upon the strategy for the upcoming Senate elections. MQM-P Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Senior Deputy Convener Aamir Khan, senior leader Faisal Sabzwari, Federal Minister Syed Aminul Haque, former mayor Waseem Akhtar and others represented their party in the meeting.
