PM nomination: PPP may seek secret ballot to prevent rift
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People's Party may go for a secret ballot among its 120 MNAs-elect to name its candidate for the prime minister, party sources told The News on Saturday.
They said saner elements in the party were working on this proposal, to be put before Asif Ali Zardari, to end the chances of any rift that became imminent after Makhdoom Amin Fahims interview published in Saturday's issue of The News.
The sources said for the party leaders, it was unexpected of Fahim, known for his low profile, to stake a claim to the prime ministers post.
Zardari, they claimed, read Fahim's interview with a sense of disbelief.
The PPP leaders believe that if the diehard loyalist from Sindh is ignored, as indications have started becoming clearer, the party might face an immediate split, as Fahim did not seem to be in a mood to give up so easily, at least this time.
Saner elements in the party believe the best course could be to use the wisdom of the party MNAs to choose a leader of their own choice. According to them, it would not only resolve the whole crisis but it might also set new democratic precedent in the party usually accused of running its affairs in a dictatorial fashion.
They believe that Zardari should not have allowed any kind of apprehensions to take root within the party at this crucial phase. They are of the view that if Zardari was not interested in making Fahim the prime minister, he should have straightaway told this on Fahim's face. But, these elements were not happy with the recent moves in the PPP in the name of "consultation" with the parliamentarians, as they thought that this exercise was only being done to dump Fahim.
They said even the Central Executive Committee (CEC) might not be able to sort out the issue of the prime minister after the induction of nine new loyalists of Zardari during the last few days.
They said if Zardari was meeting the MNAs of his party to ascertain their opinion about the next prime minister, the best option would be to ask them to write the name of the candidate of their choice and whosoever wins the majority vote should be declared as the future prime minister.
To a question whether Zardari might agree to this kind of proposal that actually undermined his own powers which he was now enjoying, the party sources said keeping the new approach of Zardari in view, it was difficult to predict how he would react to this proposal.
Meanwhile, Amin Fahim met Asif Zardari after he returned from Karachi on Saturday evening and reportedly his explosive interview with The News dominated the discussion between the two leaders. However, the details of the meeting could not be obtained.
PM nomination: PPP may seek secret ballot to prevent rift