Opposition not to spare party members who voted against Sanjrani's ouster

Bilawal Bhutto calls for Sanjrani to step down on moral grounds after 50 votes cast against him

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Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari vowed on Thursday to not spare those who voted against Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani's no-confidence motion from within the party.

Hours earlier, Sanjrani survived a no-trust resolution calling for his ouster by a razor thin margin with 50 Senators voting in its favour.

However, five of those votes were rejected with 45 votes being cast against it.

"With 50 senators voting to oust him [Sanjrani] how can he still remain as the custodian of this house?," he said in his media talk with the joint opposition.

The scion of the Bhutto political dynasty called for Sanjrani to step down on moral grounds. "Today we all could can see how this selected government has openly attacked not only the Senate but our democratic values," the PPP chairman said.

Sanjrani survives no-confidence vote in Senate

Bilawal said that even after the government bought votes through horse-trading 50 Senators still voted to remove Sanjrani.

A party inquest will take place into who decided to vote against the no-confidence motion, he added. "We will not spare those who betrayed their party...this is nothing more than a stab in the back."

He said the government should not take this as weakness and the opposition was united more than ever now. "We will raise our voice in Senate and on every pubic forum against this selected government," Bilawal said. "Even in defeat we have exposed this sham democracy and blatant horsetrading......what was the desk thumping about....Do they [government] think this is a victory for them."

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif also spoke on the occasion, and said that the government had bought votes through horse-trading but had lost any respect remaining in the public eye as a result.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader promised that the senators who did not vote for Hasil Bizenjo from within the opposition would be identified and exposed.

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.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) August 1, 2019

He announced that an all parties conference would be called next week to decide a future course of action.

"From now on in every Senate session the opposition will try its best to unmask those who were involved in horse-trading and the buying and selling of votes," he added.