Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday hosted a dinner in the honour of joint opposition parties and discussed strategy to remove Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani through a vote of no-confidence. According to the sources, the opposition parties have stepped up efforts to de-seat the government-backed Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, while the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is also claiming to give a 'surprise' and defeat the move.
The PPP sources said that almost all the senators belonging to the opposition parties attended the dinner-meeting and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, Jamait Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Emir Maualan Fazlur Rehman, and MNAs Raja Pervez Asharif, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah and others also attended the dinner at Islamabad Club to show numerical strength.
The sources said that the opposition senators expressed confidence on the efforts for removing the chairman Senate through a majority vote. There is a need of 53 members' support to de-seat Sanjrani and replace him with the opposition's nominated member of the House. The opposition political parties are enjoying majority in the 104-member Senate with PML-N having 32 senators, PPP, 20, JUI-F, 4, PkMAP, 2, NP, 5, and ANP has one senator, taking the total number of the opposition senators to 64 and making the opposition in a comfortable position to de-seat Sanjrani.
The PTI with a total 14 senators is backed by its allies, including MQM-P, 5, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), 2, BNP-M, 1, and PML-F, 1, taking the total strength of the treasury to 23, while the party is also claiming support of some independents as well as members from the opposition parties. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) also invited the senators of joint opposition parties to dinner today (Wednesday).