Hamza Shehbaz, Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly, has nominated Mohsin Naqvi and Ahad Cheema for the position of caretaker chief minister of the provincial assembly.
In a letter to Governor Punjab Baligh-ur-Rehman, he disapproved the nominees put forth by outgoing Chief Minister Parvez Elahi.
He also conveyed to the governor that he was appointing Malik Ahmed Khan, PM’s spokesperson, as the focal person to coordinate on the issue, since he himself was abroad at the moment.
Earlier, the PTI and the PML-Q decided on three candidates – namely Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, Naseer Ahmad Khan and Nasir Saeed Khosa – as their nominees for the caretaker Punjab chief minister.
Sukhera is a bureaucrat presently serving as Secretary Cabinet Division, Khan is a former federal health minister, and Khosa is a retired civil servant.
Announcing the names, outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi said that the selection was made by Imran Khan himself.
The PML-Q leader had announced the names while speaking to the media outside Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore, where the two deliberated on the potential candidates.
Elahi will continue as chief minister until the caretaker chief minister is appointed and administered the oath.
He had earlier signed a summary to dissolve the assembly. In a one-liner to the governor, he stated, “I Parvez Elahi, chief minister of Punjab, hereby advise you to dissolve the provincial assembly.”
Punjab Assembly stood automatically dissolved after Rehman refused to sign the summary.
Elahi had urged the PDM to “think with an open heart” and said that if they did, he could see consensus being reached.
The prevailing provincial crisis has affected political affairs in the Centre too, as political parties engage in intense wrangling.
While the former premier wants snap elections, PML-N thinks that doing so would increase instability in the country.
