Race for caretaker PM wide open

PM, opposition leader fail to reach consensus

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday met with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz at the PM House to deliberate on the candidate for the caretaker premier’s slot but failed to reach a consensus on a single name and decided to take up the matter again on Friday (today).

As per the Constitution, PM Shehbaz invited the opposition leader to contemplate on the names of the would-be caretaker premier as President Dr Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on Wednesday on the advice of the prime minister.

“We’ve yet to reach a consensus,” the opposition leader told reporters after leaving the PM House.

The official statement released after the rendezvous read that PM Shehbaz and Riaz would meet again on Friday to deliberate further on the names proposed in the consultation held on Thursday.

The opposition leader said the names would not be revealed until one of them was finalised.

However, he added that he had shared the names of the candidates he favoured with the premier, hoping that matters would be sorted out on Friday.

Read: PM consults allies on caretaker set-up

Riaz said he would deliberate further with PM Shehbaz on the names exchanged with each other.

He continued that he would consider the names proposed by the premier and the latter would reflect on the candidates he had suggested during the meeting.

The opposition leader maintained that PM Shehbaz was unaware of the names he had proposed, suggesting they were revealed for the first time in the meeting.

Although both were unable to reach a consensus, Riaz was hopeful that he and PM Shehbaz would agree on a single candidate out of the six names exchanged between them for the interim premier’s slot in the subsequent meetings.

Speculations have been making rounds about different contenders for the post of the caretaker premier for weeks now but there is no official word yet.

It all started a few weeks ago when the PML-N-led government expressed its intention to dissolve the assembly earlier than its scheduled time so that it could have an additional month for the party’s election campaign.

The situation became interesting when Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s name started gaining traction for the caretaker premier’s position.

Although several other names surfaced later, but the prime minister has not ruled out that of Dar yet.

The names of PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Dr Hafeez Sheikh, and ex-principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad are also under consideration.

Read More Explainer: NA dissolution and caretaker setup

The PPP has proposed the names of former diplomat Jalil Abbas Jilani and former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jilani.

The MQM-P has put forth the name of Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori for the post.

Lately, the name of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has also come under consideration.

Sources in the PML-N said Sanjrani’s name also came under discussion for the slot of the interim premier while Dar could be chosen for the post of the Senate chairman.

However, they added that PML-N supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif still favoured Dar for the caretaker PM’s slot.

Following the prime minister and opposition leader’s meeting, it is expected that a name agreed upon by both of them would be revealed.

Otherwise, under Article 224-A of the Constitution, if they both do not agree on a name within three days of the assembly’s dissolution, “they shall forward two nominees each to a committee to be immediately constituted by the NA speaker comprising eight members of the outgoing National Assembly or Senate, or both, having equal representation from the treasury and the opposition, to be nominated by the prime minister and the leader of the opposition respectively”.

Even though no name has yet been finalised, PM Shehbaz will continue to act as the prime minister until a caretaker premier takes his place.

According to Article 94 of the Constitution, the president might ask the prime minister to continue holding the office until their successor takes over the position.