The Balochistan Assembly will elect leader of the House in a session summoned for Friday (tomorrow), days after Jam Kamal resigned from the post of chief minister.
Balochistan Governor Syed Zahoor Ahmed Agha has summoned a session of the assembly on October 29 for the election of the new leader of the house and its speaker.
Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which has 24 members in a house of 65, has already nominated Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo for the post of chief minister and Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali for that of speaker, which has fallen vacant after former’s resignation from the office.
After getting support from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its allied parties, Bizenjo will likely be elected unopposed.
In the meantime, the federal government has said that it will support any candidate the BAP names as the new chief minister of the province.
Addressing a joint press conference, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and BAP President Zahoor Buledi said that the new government of Balochistan will consist of the same allies from the coalition that came into being in 2018.
They also announced the Centre’s decision to support the BAP candidate. “We will support the decision of the majority within the BAP,” Khattak said when asked whom the federal government will support.
While responding to another question about whether the federal government will support Bizenjo, who has been nominated by the BAP, Khattak said that it is BAP that has to reach a decision.
On the other hand, the PTI’s provincial parliamentary committee had said a day earlier that it has decided to nominate MPA Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind as a candidate for Balochistan chief minister.
The decision was made at a meeting held in Quetta to discuss the current political situation of the province. Balochistan MPAs Mir Naimat Zehri, Umar Khan Jamali, Balochistan Assembly Deputy Speaker Babar Moosakhail, Mubin Khilji, and Farida Rind attended the meeting.
The PTI also agreed to nominate Sardar Babar Moosakhail as the speaker for the Balochistan Assembly.
OPPOSITION: Meanwhile, the united opposition on Monday decided to nominate Bizenjo as the new chief minister.
BAP interim president Zahoor Buledi confirmed the development, shortly after Bizenjo resigned from his post as the speaker.
Buledi said that he would also consult other coalition parties over the selection of a new leader of the House.
Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran said all the coalition parties have nominated Bizenjo as the next chief minister. He said that consultations are underway with the PTI for the formation of a government.
“We invite everyone to work together for the betterment of Balochistan,” he said.
