Shock victory

The elegant manner Sanjrani had conducted Senate's proceedings is something that hardly any Senator can say no to

Numbers suggested a snowball’s chance in hell for the Senate chairman to survive the no-trust vote brought against him yesterday by the ‘joint’ opposition, led by political hulks — the PML-N and the PPP. But Sadiq Sanjrani did pull off a shock victory for the PTI-led government coalition. In the 104-strong House, 53 votes were needed for the first-ever no-trust motion against a Senate chairman to succeed. But the motion could only earn 50 votes from the 100 present in the House, of which 64 belonged to the opposition parties and 36 to the government and its allies. As many as 45 Senators rejected the motion while five had their votes rejected. Even though the opposition fell short of just 3 votes, the defections actually totalled 14.

The ballot determined how fragile the opposition unity is. This is not the first time that this so-called unity has stood exposed. At the very outset, a potential grand alliance of no less than 11 opposition parties had turned out to be a non-starter when the PML-N and the PPP had failed to agree on joint candidates to fight Imran Khan and Dr Arif Alivi for the dignified offices of Prime Minister and President, respectively. On a number of occasions thereafter, the opposition tried to forge ranks against the government, but failed to actually go beyond statements.

Politics is the art of the possible. While the opposition parties failed to realise the axiomatic truth, the government and its allies proved their consciousness in the context, and managed to avoid the unavoidable. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal had, well in time, embarked on a ‘Save Sanjrani’ mission to Islamabad where he had held meetings with members of the Senate in his bid to convince them to rise above party lines and say ‘yes’ to their conscience. Sanjrani had himself stepped out in the field to canvass against the unprecedented no-trust vote. And the hectic diplomacy did pay dividends.

Votes apart, the impartial and elegant manner in which Sanjrani had conducted the proceedings of the Upper House is something that hardly any Senator can say no to.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2019.

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