After getting its candidates elected as Senate chairman and deputy chairman, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is now set to occupy the office of the opposition leader as its nominee Sherry Rehman on Thursday submitted her nomination papers supported by 33 members to Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.
Talking to Dawn after meeting Mr Sanjrani with Deputy Chairman of the Senate Saleem Mandviwalla and other PPP members, Ms Rehman claimed that she had submitted a list of the opposition members who had put their signatures on her nomination papers for the office of the opposition leader, the position that was previously held by her party colleague Aitzaz Ahsan.
She said that except for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), the members of all other opposition parties and independent senators had endorsed her nomination as the new leader of the opposition in the upper house of parliament. She, however, claimed that the two members of the JI had also assured her of their support and they could not sign the document as they were attending a party event in Mansoora, Lahore.
According to Ms Rehman, besides 21 senators from her own party, she was being supported by six independents from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, four independents from Balochistan and one member each from the Balochistan National Party-Mengal and the Awami National Party.
