Opposition troika: Zardari tasked with gathering govt allies, MPs' support for no-trust move

• Joint Opposition still indecisive about strategy to bring no-trust motion against govt.
• Sources say PDM's Fazl unhappy over delay in announcement of a no-confidence motion.
• Sources say that Zardari nominated Shehbaz as next prime minister.

LAHORE: Despite taking their efforts to introduce a no-trust motion against the PM Imran Khan-led government to an extensive scale, the joint Opposition remained unsuccessful in finalising its strategy for the motion in their latest meeting.

According to a report by The News, Wednesday's meeting of three top political leaders remained inconclusive as they have yet to decide against whom they would bring the no-confidence move first: the prime minister or Punjab CM.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari and PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman held discussions to fine-tune the anti-PTI strategy, after a luncheon hosted by the PML-N leader.

Sources said during the trio’s meeting, Maulana Fazlur Rahman expressed his dissatisfaction over the delay in the announcement of a no-confidence motion and asked both leaders to reach a final conclusion within the next two days.

Close sources said the PML-N wanted to bring the no-confidence motion directly against Prime Minister Imran Khan while the PPP wanted to bring the no-trust move against the National Assembly speaker and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Sources said that the PPP leader revealed that the members of Jahangir Tareen group, who were secretly supporting the united opposition, were also of the view that as the first step, the no-confidence motion should be brought against the speaker because as per the Constitution, it will be held through a secret ballot.

The second difference in the united opposition was who would become the head of the government if the no-confidence movement was successful, as anyone, who will take charge, will have to implement the IMF’s agenda and face the wrath of the public.

Sources further stated that Shehbaz Sharif wanted someone from within the PPP as the prime minister while the PPP wanted Shehbaz Sharif to be the next prime minister, a proposal which he was reluctant to accept. They claimed that former president Asif Ali Zardari nominated Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister while Shehbaz named PPP’s Khursheed Shah for the slot.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman had led a delegation comprising Akram Durrani, Maulana Asadur Rehman and Maulana Amjad on the meeting while the PPP’s delegation included PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza and others.

Before the arrival of Asif Ali Zardari, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Shehbaz Sharif met in person and Shehbaz Sharif took the PDM chief into confidence over his recent discussion with Zardari on joining his party in the long march. The two leaders discussed various issues against the government, including the no-confidence motion.

As reported earlier, the Opposition parties' coalition favours immediate elections but the ruling PTI's allies are not in its favour. However, since the coalition seeks support of government's allies for bringing a no-trust motion against the government, Zardari was said to have persuaded the Opposition parties' leaders to show flexibility on the matter of elections.

According to sources, Wednesday's meeting gave the former president the power to settle matters with the ruling PTI's allies.

The sources said the PML-N president told the meeting that the PML-N would announce its candidate for the slot of prime minister in case of success of the no-confidence motion. However, the sources said that the PDM’s chief asked both the leaders to show the names of PTI’s rebels but they didn’t reveal the names on the pretext that it might be early to reveal their names.

Meanwhile, Zardari apprised the meeting about the positive contacts being made with the ruling coalition parties, the PML-Q and the Balochistan Awami Party. At this, the participants of the meeting expressed satisfaction over the numbers game.

On the other hand, sources said the opposition parties have also started signing the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan for which, the united opposition claimed to have the support of 24 members of the ruling party.

They said that the opposition parties have 162 members and 10 more votes were needed to make the no-confidence motion a success. The PML-N has claimed to have the support of 16 government members while the PPP claimed to have the support of six government members and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) said they had the support of two government members.