QUETTA: Opposition political parties in Balochistan have made it clear that they will not be a part of the new government set-up after Nawab Sanaullah Zehri’s resignation as chief minister of the province.
“We will not be part of [the] future government”, Leader of the Opposition in the Balochistan Assembly Maulana Wasey told a crowded press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The opposition, however, promised votes in support of the PML-N dissidents’ proposed candidate.
“The opposition will support any new candidate for the chief minister Balochistan named by the disgruntled PML-N legislators”, Wasey said.
Balochistan National Party (BNP) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal, PML-Q MPA and former deputy speaker Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, and PML-N dissidents Jan Mohammad Jamali and Sardar Saleh Bhootani were also present on the occasion.
“We played our democratic role and will continue to do so in the future,” Mengal said. BNP, which has two legislators in the Balochistan Assembly, had previously supported the no-confidence motion against Zehri.
With the opposition out of the process, the disgruntled group within the PML-N is set to nominate a new leader of the house.
The dissident group within the PML-N includes Sarfraz Bugti, whose resignation/ouster from the home minister’s office had worsened the political crisis in the province.
PML-N sources said Jamali, Bhootani and Bizenjo were all strong candidates for the top slot in the province as like-minded legislators of the party met today to nominate the new Balochistan chief minister.
Zehri, who had taken over the highest government office in the province from ally National Party’s Dr Abdul Malik in December 2015, resigned on Tuesday hours before a scheduled vote of no-confidence after Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s last ditch efforts to save his government failed. INP
