PM Shehbaz Sharif fails to constitute federal cabinet after 72 hours

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has failed to constitute his federal cabinet 72 hours after assuming his office.

The delay in the federal cabinet’s constitution of PM Shehbaz Sharif has raised many questions regarding the unity of the joint opposition leadership.

News360 had earlier reported regarding a split in the leadership of the opposition parties that came into power after the ouster of former premier Imran Khan through a successful no-trust motion on April 11.

Yesterday, PM Sharif visited Karachi where he met Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) top leaders. It may be noted here that MQM-P had earlier decided not to be part of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government despite supporting the opposition parties in Imran Khan’s ouster from his office.

It was learnt that PM Sharif aimed to appease MQM-P for becoming part of the coalition government, however, no announcement was made regarding any decision by both parties except a discussion on the names of the Sindh governor.

PPP divided over key slots in federal govt, Fazlur Rehman’s presidency: sources

A few days ago, News360 had reported that PPP central leaders developed differences over the key slots in the federal government and the presidency of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) supremo Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Sources had told News360 that the PPP leaders are split over being part of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Some PPP leaders had tabled recommendations to accept the foreign minister’s slot for Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

It is likely that the PML-N government will offer key slots in the federal government to PPP including the National Assembly (NA) speaker and the foreign ministry.

Opposition, establishment fail to counter Imran Khan’s popular narrative

However, PPP leadership is still undecided over accepting the proposals, however, at the same time, some leaders suggested naming Khursheed Shah or Naveed Qamar for the NA speaker’s position.

Moreover, the PPP leaders are also reluctant to see Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the president of Pakistan. They expressed reservations that Fazl’s election as the president will be seriously impactful for the ideological base of PPP.

Later, it emerged that PPP had shown interest to get the presidency, NA speaker and Senate chairman slots instead of getting federal ministries from the PML-N government ahead of the cabinet formation.

However, the political party is due to make a final decision in this regard.