LAHORE - PPP on Thursday showed cautious reaction over the appointment of Hassan Askari Rizvi as Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister.
PPP also believes that a caretaker chief minister has a limited role in the conduct of elections which was actually the responsibility of the election commission.
“A caretaker chief minister only assists the election commission in the conduct of free and fair elections,” senior PPP leader Ch Manzoor Ahmad told The Nation.
To a question about the appointment of Hassan Askari as caretaker chief minister, the PPP leader said that his appointment had been undertaken by the election commission as per the Constitution.
“The ECP has exercised its constitutional powers after the political leadership of the PML-N and the PTI failed to agree on one name,” Manzoor said.
He also castigated the PML-N and the PTI for what he called making the mockery of the whole process. “How would the parties lacking decision-making power run the country’s affairs,” he questioned, adding that the PPP used its political wisdom while making the decisions on the caretaker setup in the centre and Sindh.
Manzoor alleged that both the PML-N and the PTI made efforts to bring partisan persons on the post of caretaker chief minister in Punjab.
Reacting to the ECP decision, another senior PPP leader Sardar Latif Khosa said that the PML-N was uselessly trying to create controversy over the appointment of an impartial person [Hassan Askari] as the chief minister. “The PML-N now fears that it won’t be able to rig elections with the assistance of its ‘Gullu Butts’ (cronies).
PPP’s Lahore President Mian Azizur Rehamn Chan, however, said his party had reservations over the appointment of Hassan Askari as the caretaker chief minister. He said PTI had not taken the PPP into confidence while proposing its names for the caretaker slot.
PPP’s Punjab women wing President Samina Khalid Ghurki also said her party had reservations over the name. Meanwhile, PTI’s former ticket holder from PP-158, Tahir Majeed on Thursday announced to join the PPP at a press conference along with Ms Ghurki here.
OUR STAFF REPORTER