LAHORE - Though the Senate website is still showing her a senator from Balochistan National Party-Awami, Senator Kalsoom Perveen claims she has resigned from the Senate seat, but only to return to the upper house for the next term.
“I have resigned from the membership of BNP-A as well as from my Senate seat to return to the upper house again,” she told The Nation on Tuesday, adding she had now joined PML-N.  
Kalsoom who had been a senator since 2003 said she resigned from the membership of the BNP-A on January 17 and left the Senate seat two weeks back. This she said in response to a question how she could become eligible for a PML-N ticket, simultaneously having affiliation with the BNP-A.
Asked why the Senate’s official website was still showing her a senator of the BNP-A, she replied she had submitted her resignation to the Senate chairman a couple of weeks back, but if he had not accepted her resignation as yet, it is not her fault.
On the question of changing her political affiliations, Kalsoom said she contested first Senate election in 2003 on PML-Q ticket. “In 2009 elections, I was not considered for the party ticket, so I decided to contest as an independent candidate and won.
Later, I joined the BNP-A, but now the party has not enough members in the Balochistan Assembly to get me elected as a senator again,” she said.
Kalsoom justified her decision to join the PML-N, saying she wanted to continue her political journey without any interruption. “I am a politician and have the right to join any political party. You media persons also keep changing your organisations frequently whenever you find some better opportunity,” she remarked.
Though she has resigned, her tenure would end on March 11. Before her resignation, she was sitting on the opposition benches along with PPP, MQM and other parties. She had also been representing BNP-A on different forums before quitting her parent party.