KARACHI - Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Khwaja Izharul Hassan on Friday approached PPP Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro to ask Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to decide a date for sitting to decide the caretaker setup in the Sindh province.

Talking to The Nation, Khawaja Izharul Hassan said that their sittings were scheduled after the Iftar at the chief minister house on May 23 but it was hampered due to provocative statement from the chief minister at the assembly floor where he cursed those demanding a new province from Sindh.

“Earlier it was decided that a meeting would be held after the completion on budget debate but that also did not happen,” he said. 

Izhar said that he had on Friday approached Nisar Ahmed Khuhro to ask the chief minister to confirm sitting on the issue so that the names could be finalised before the culmination of the provincial assembly tenure.

Speaking on the names from opposition sides, the opposition leader said that they had decided on the names of Ghous Ali Shah – PML-F nominee and Aftab Sheikh-MQM-P nominee. “We are also mulling over some other names in order to create consensus among the opposition parties on the names,” he said. 

It is pertinent here to mention that both the chief minister and the opposition leader of the provincial assembly had to sit together to decide on the names of the caretaker setup including the chief minister and the cabinet in the province and if no consensus is reached between them then the matter would be sent to the parliamentary committee comprising of four lawmakers each from treasury and opposition sides.

If the matter would not be decided even at that forum then the election commission would take decision on the names.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the Pakistan People’s Party is yet to decide its candidates for the top provincial caretaker setup and is considering the names of Hameed Somroo and Younus Somroo but a conflict has arisen between top party leadership on the names.

The sources with PPP however, said that Younus Somroo seemed favourite contender from the treasury side.  Dr Younis Soomro is a known orthopaedic surgeon and has worked in the Civil Hospital Karachi. During the last caretaker set-up, he was the federal health minister. He originally hailed from Shikarpur.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has also presented it two names for chief minister slot in the interim provincial setup.

Giving names, the PTI parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman said that they had proposed names of Justice (r) Ameer Hani Muslim and former KMC administrator Fazlur Rehman.