PPP announces support to Sadiq Sanjrani as candidate for Senate Chairman

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) announced to support Sadiq Sanjrani, an independent Senator-elect from Balochistan, for the slot of Senate chairman.

Talking to media, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said that it has nominated Saleem Mandviwalla for the deputy chairman seat in the election to take place on Monday.

Earlier, the PPP and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had given Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Quddus Bizenjo the authority to bring forth a joint candidate for the slots with help of the newly-elected independent senators from Balochistan.

PTI’s inclination towards PPP’s candidate emerged after a meeting between Balochistan CM Bizenjo and PTI Chairman Imran Khan at the latter’s Bani Gala residence on Sunday. Bizenjo was accompanied by a delegation of independent senators-elect from the province.

During the meeting, Khan announced his support for any candidate the PPP puts up for the post of deputy chairman as per an agreement with Bizenjo.

“As per our promise to the Balochistan CM, we will support the PPP’s candidate for deputy chairman of the Senate,” Khan assured a delegation of the senators-elect from Balochistan.

Imran Khan told the media in a visit to Faisalabad on Sunday that during the meeting with Bizenjo, he had been asked to support the Balochistan CM’s panel, which included a deputy chairman nominated by the PPP. Both sides had already agreed on supporting senator-elect Sanjrani for the post of chairman of the Upper House.

The PTI chief added that he had agreed to support Bizenjo’s panel as “mitigating a sense of deprivation among the citizens of Balochistan is essential”.

Sanjrani is also expected to be voted in by independent senators elected from Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The PML-N’s leadership had asked Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party to take the lead for them in the race for Senate chairman and garner support from other senators in the province, but the independents gave him the cold shoulder, the sources said.