As Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has taken the oath of Punjab chief minister, the coveted office of Speaker Punjab Assembly fell vacant and the race is in full swing within the PTI to get the powerful chamber of the custodian of the house.
Several PTI leaders have started lobbying to get the coveted office after the elevation of Elahi to the Chief Minister’s Office.
According to insiders, former opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, Mian Aslam Iqbal, former CM Sardar Usman Buzdar, Sabtain Khan Niazi and Makhdoom Zain Qureshi (son of Shah Mehmood Qureshi) have started lobbying to gain the coveted office.
Sources said that Sabtain Khan Niazi, an MPA from Mianwali and a close confidant of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, is highly likely to get the coveted office.
Sabtain was opposition leader in Punjab Assembly during Hamza’s brief stint as chief minister while he was also a member of Buzdar’s cabinet as minister for Forestry. He has also served as minister for Mines and Minerals in the cabinet of Parvez Elahi from 2002-7 when the latter was CM during the regime of military dictator Pervaiz Musharraf.
For smooth sailing of the house, a cordial relationship between the CM and the speaker is very important and both Elahi and Sabtain enjoy very good relationship. On Wednesday, Elahi met Imran Khan at Bani Gala and the name of Sabtain Khan was also discussed at the meeting.
Sources within the PTI told this scribe that Imran Khan will visit Lahore on Thursday to finalize his team in Punjab.
It is pertinent to mention here that PTI is also considering ousting incumbent Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari through a vote of no confidence as the party believes that Mazari has joined the camp of PML-N. The motion against Mazari is already submitted in Punjab Assembly and the voting may take place anytime soon. For the office of Deputy Speaker, PTI is considering the names of its MPAs from Rawalpindi Wasiq Qayum Abbasi and Malik Taimoor Masood. Abbasi has earlier served as chairman of Punjab Education Foundation while Masood has served as parliamentary secretary for Housing during the tenure of Buzdar. It should be noted here that Wasiq Abbasi was at the forefront when the MPAs of PTI and PML-Q assaulted Deputy Speaker Mazari on April 16. Later, Abbasi was also booked in the case for attacking the deputy speaker.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan will visit Lahore today to finalize his team of Punjab and the sources claimed that Raja Basharat will be his first choice as minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs as he is also the blue-eyed of CM Elahi. Moreover, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Zain Qureshi, Mehmood ur Rasheed, Ch Zaheer, Kheyal Castro, Usman Buzdar, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Hafiz Ammar Yasir, Sajid Bhatti, Yawar Bukhari, Murad Ras and Raja Yasir Humayun will also be the part of Elahi’s cabinet.
On the other hand, the PML-N is planning to field Sardar Awais Laghari for the coveted office of speaker of Punjab Assembly. The party is also crafting a strategy to save Mazari from the no-trust motion against him as he has rescued PML-N in the difficult time. The advisory group of Punjab’s parliamentary party met here at Model Town with Hamza Shehbaz in the chair to devise the strategy for the election of speaker and deputy speaker.
