PTI parliamentary meeting names Imran for PM’s post
PTI CHIEF VOWS TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE, SAYS FIRST PHASE OF 22-YEAR STRUGGLE IS OVER
Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) parliamentary party in a meeting here yesterday officially named party chairman Imran Khan for the office of the Prime Minister while vice-chairman of the PTI Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been nominated for Speaker of the National Assembly. To become premier, Khan will face a vote in parliament — perhaps as early as on Saturday — in which he will have to defeat a rival candidate fielded by the opposition.
Khan’s Tahreek-e-Insaf party won most parliament seats in last month’s general elections — 115 — but fell short of a majority in 342-seat assembly, requiring it to form a coalition. Many lawmakers who won parliament seats running as independents in the July 25 vote have joined his coalition.
Senior party leader from Sindh Imran Ismail has also been named for Sindh’s governorship. Sources privy to the development, however, said Shah Mahmood Qureshi had some reservations over his name being considered for Speakership of the National Assembly but he was convinced by senior leaders of the party.
PTI is also mulling over names of Ishaq Khakwani, Dr Babar Awan, Rai Azizullah and Ejaz Chaudhry for the slot of Governor Punjab, sources further said.
Imran Khan, instead of grinning or beaming with joy over his party’s landslide victory in the wake of July 25 elections, was his usual self after his name was proposed, seconded and unanimously confirmed by the party members. He looked calm, quiet and quite mindful of the challenges ahead. This was the first interaction of Chairman Khan with the parliamentarians of his party since elections and some 125 MNAs and close aides and elders of the party had turned up at a five-star hotel in Islamabad to officially name him for Prime Minister’s office.