ISLAMABAD - Former president Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday declined an offer by ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif to re-elect Pakistan People’s Party leader Mian Raza Rabbani as the Senate chairman with the help of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

At a huddle of ruling coalition parties earlier in the day, PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif proposed they could support retaining incumbent Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani if PPP agrees to also re-elect deputy chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of JUI-F.

But speaking to journalists here after meeting with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman, Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari expressed his dislike for this idea.

When asked about Nawaz Sharif’s proposal, he said, “Thank you very much. I don’t want this”, before abruptly turning around and leaving the podium.

The PPP had earlier tentatively short-listed the names of Senator Sherry Rehman and Raza Rabbani for the top Senate slot but on Wednesday the name of Saleem Mandviwalla surfaced as the main contender while Farooq Naek was also being considered for chairmanship.

Without going into details, Zardari told the media he was in contact with other parties to support the party candidate in the March 12 Senate chairman election.

Fazlur Rehman pledged to consider supporting the PPP candidate. “We [JUI-F and PPP] have a friendly past, we will hold a meeting of the party [JUI-F] and consider our options,” he said, hinting at conditional support to the PPP nominee.

JUI-F chief said PPP might also be asked to reconsider its plans. “When the things unfold, they [PPP] may also have to reconsider their proposals,” he maintained.

PPP and PML-N are actively vying to get their candidates elected for chairman and deputy chairman slots, but they both lack simple majority of 53 in the 104-member house to get their nominees elected.

Amid allegations of horse-trading, the Senate elections for half of its seats on March 3 concluded with the ruling PML-N – whose candidates had to contest the polls as independents after the Supreme Court last month disqualified Nawaz Sharif as party chief – taking the lead.

PML-N is now leading in the Senate with 33 senators, including party’s 15 independently elected members, while PPP is runners up with 20. PTI has 12 senators while there 15 independents (from Fata and Balochistan), who would play key role in the contest.

Including the senators of the coalition partners – PkMAP (with 5 senators), NP (5) and JUI-F (4) – the tally of ruling side goes up to 47. And, in case MQM’s five senators put their weight on their side, the coalition almost attains the required figure.

Further, if PML-F, JI and other small parties also join in, the number could rise to 56 or 57. This would make it extremely difficult for PPP to withstand the contest, especially if Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (12 senators) stuck to its position of staying out of the contest.

Some PPP leaders however have claimed the PTI had assured support if its candidate was elected the deputy chairman.

Zardari however expressed confidence that the next chairman of Senate “will be ours”. He called Nawaz Sharif “the founder of horse trading” who laid the foundation of the act in Changa Manga, near Lahore.

PPP has claimed support of the senators from the Federally-Administrated Tribal Areas [Fata] and several other independents (from Balochistan).

PPP leaders also held meetings on Wednesday with the Fata senators. Sources said the group conditioned their support for PPP nominee chairman with support for their candidate for deputy chairman slot in return.

On the other hand, the huddle of ruling coalition parties also discussed the issues relating elections of chairman and deputy chairman Senate and devised strategy to woo the support of independents and smaller parties.

During the course of discussion at the residence of PML-N leader Ch Munir, Nawaz Sharif remarked that he wanted to see a personality like Raza Rabbani as Senate chairman.

All the heads of coalition partners – PkMAP chief Mehmood Achakzai, National Party chief Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman – supported the idea and JUI-F chief was tasked to take it up with PPP leader Asif Zardari in their evening meeting.

They decided that in case the PPP would bring some other candidate then the ruling coalition would bring its own candidate on the chairman and deputy chairman slots and the names of the candidates would be announced in consultation with the coalition partners and other stakeholders.

During the meeting various names came under discussion for fielding on the top senate slots but on the suggestion of Fazlur Rehman the matter was deferred until his meeting with Zardari.

Besides these leaders, former Balochistan chief minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch; Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq; senators-elect Mushahid Hussain Syed, Mushahid Ullah Khan and Senator Pervaiz Rasheed; Saad Rafique and other senior PML-N leaders were in attendance.

The coalition leaders decided in the meeting to meet the independent groups of Balochistan and Fata senators as well as MQM and other parties to win over their support.

A committee comprising Saad Rafique, Mushahid Ullah and Mushahid Hussain was formed that would meet MQM groups lead by Dr Farooq Sattar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui to convince them to extend their support. Later in the evening, this team met with both the groups of MQM and sought their support.

Talking to media persons at Parliament House, NP chief Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo claimed that the ruling coalition was having requisite number to get their men elected as chairman and deputy chairman.

He further said the ruling coalition would announce its candidates on Thursday or Friday after consultation with other smaller groups and parties as they wanted consensus candidates for both these slots.