ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – The PPP is now mulling over joining the coalition government in Centre after securing important constitutional offices including the president and the Senate chairman as well as governors in Punjab and Balochistan.
It is Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who again offered the PPP to join his cabinet as it had earlier refused to become a part of government albeit it help forming propelling him to the office by voting him in the National Assembly.
As a result, it is expected that the PPP will be able to get attractive ministries in the federal cabinet.
The PPP has already started to discuss the subject internally. However, a final decision would only be taken by the central executive committee (CEC) or the general council members, sources say.
It was the CEC that had decided against joining the government after both Asif Ali Zardari – who heads the PPP-Parliamentarians – and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed their inability despite the repeated attempts made by PML-N.
And the future strategy, the sources say, would also approved by the CEC being the party’s top decision-making body. Instead, they stressed that they must be given the top offices – president and Senate chairman – as well as governorship in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab – a province that was once its stronghold but has been lost slowly since 1990s.
At that time, some of the PML-N senior leaders, including Ahsan Iqbal, who is the party’s secretary general, had openly questioned the reasoning behind the decision, saying not sharing the responsibilities wasn’t a good idea.
The sources say Rubina Khalid – a senior leader from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – will lead Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) as the PPP is also hoping to grab important portfolios in the federal government.
One may recall that the PML-N, especially party supremo Nawaz Sharif, was the main target of Bilawal during the election campaign, as the former three-time prime minister had been eyeing a record fourth term in office.
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However, the disappointing election results meant that the PML-N could only form a coalition government – an idea disliked by Nawaz who, however, managed to see his political scion Maryam Nawaz assuming the charge of Punjab chief minister.