All 96 members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the Sindh Assembly including Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah have submitted their resignations to the leadership. According to a spokesman for the Bilawal House, all Sindh Assembly lawmakers visited Bilawal House in the past few days and submitted their resignations.
All PPP Sindh Assembly lawmakers submit resignations#ARYNewshttps://t.co/T1XnHWArCQ
— ARY NEWS (@ARYNEWSOFFICIAL) December 13, 2020
It is pertinent to mention here that the decision to submit resignations with the party leaderships by December 31 was made during the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) meeting days back, headed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman and attended by top political leaders including Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari via video link and Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal Bhutto, and others in attendance.
Earlier on Friday, during his visit to Jati Umrah, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari threw the ball into the court of the party’s central executive committee (CEC) for the decision on resignations.
Bilawal Bhutto had denied reports that PPP was not becoming a part of the PDMs decisions and said that every party has taken up the resignation issue at their party platform and the PPP would also discuss it at the CEC forum.
I have submitted my resignation today. #PDM @BBhuttoZardari pic.twitter.com/Z4kytL4HxB
— Syed Nasir Hussain Shah (@SyedNasirHShah) December 11, 2020
Notably, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday said that the fake government came into power with the instructions of an umpire’s finger and the PDM is challenging the facilitators of the puppet government to give people their rights.
Addressing the PDM’s Lahore rally on Sunday, he said that he was very happy to address the heart of Punjab in Lahore and late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto founded his party from this city.
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Bilawal said, “We will march towards Islamabad and demand the resignation of the selected and incompetent prime minister, adding that no one can divide the joint opposition. We will drive out the puppet government.” “Selectors, listen clearly, you will have to listen to the public voice, you will have to accept their decision […] the time for dialogue is gone, now there will be a long march,” the PPP chairman said.
CEC to decide the future of PPP?
Responding to a question about PPP’s senior leader Aitzaz Ahsan’s point of view with regard to en masse resignations from assemblies, the PPP Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said that the party would soon convene its CEC meeting and the PDM’s decision would be put before it and everyone would be allowed to express their views including Aitzaz Ahsan. “What decision the CEC takes would be the decision of the party and also of Aitzaz Ahsan,” he added.
Aitzaz had also stated that opposition’s resignations were not enough to dissolve the national and provincial assemblies, as the ruling PTI needed only 172 members in the National Assembly, adding only 84 members – required to maintain the quorum of the 342-member Lower House of the Parliament – was enough to run the house.
Political commentators are of the view that the PPP is unlikely to block Islamabad as the PML-N and JUI-F have reportedly plan. “PPP will soon find a graceful exit but may continue to offer its moral support to the anti-government campaign. The party is divided on some basic questions and Bilawal won’t be in a position to take any bold decision. Let’s not forget the fact the PPP did the same when Maulana came to dislodge PTI’s government in 2019,” a source told GVS.
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The PTI leaders have already been claiming that the PPP will not support the PML-N’s do or die scenario in the long run. “PPP will never go for the resignations. I can give you my words,” Federal Minister for Water and Power, Faisal Vawda, told Kashif Abbasi on ARY News.