— MQM, JUI also unhappy with portfolios offered
— PPP likely to get foreign ministry: Rana Sanaullah
ISLAMABAD: The new coalition set up led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has yet failed to iron out differences with regard to the federal cabinet on Sunday.
Even Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has been divided over joining the federal cabinet or not, sources said.
Moreover, the JUI-F and MQM are also unhappy over the distribution of cabinet slots among the coalition partners.
According to sources, former president Asif Ali Zardari has been against the People’s Party’s joining the cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. However, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is supporting the idea to become part of the federal cabinet.
The PPP and PML-N, two major parties in the alliance, have differences over distribution of the constitutional offices, according to sources.
People’s Party sources said that the PML-N have rigid stance over allocation of key ministries.
“The PPP wants ministries of its choice and constitutional offices in the new government,” party sources said. The PML-N, however, avoiding to give the PPP the portfolios it wants, sources further said.
People’s Party also wants its man as the Chairman of the Senate, but the PML-N has not yet promised to give the top office of the upper house to the coalition partner, according to sources.
Earlier, there were reports that the PPP had decided to become part of the federal cabinet after talks with the PML-N.
Presently, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has been elected the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Despite multiple meetings between PPP and PML-N, the new coalition set up failed to iron out differences over the formation of federal cabinet.
Moreover, the JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman is also unhappy over refusal of PPP and PML-N to award the slot of president to him.
Other coalition partners like MQM is also unhappy on the trajectory of the decision making among the coalition partners.
PPP likely to get foreign ministry: Rana Sanaullah
PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah on Sunday said that following consultation between the allied parties of the government it has been decided that PPP will likely get to head the foreign ministry.
Speaking to the media, Sanaullah said that the allied parties have completed the talks related to the distribution of ministries, however, the parties have asked for a day to deliberate on the decision.
“The ministries have been divided among the allied parties and now each party will name their preferred candidates,” he said.
Sanaullah said that in accordance with the number of members each party has in the Parliament, PPP will get 11 ministerial positions, while PML-N will get 14.
“If names of other parties to head ministers surface, the PML-N will make that information public too,” he said.
He added that the ministry of foreign affairs will most likely be handed over to the PPP, while the party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is deliberating over the decision to head the ministry.
“I cannot ascertain whether Bilawal Bhutto will become part of Shahbaz Sharif’s cabinet,” he said.
