Can S.Yousuf Raza Gillani as PM keep the PPPP together?

With Mr. Gillani tipped to be the next Prime Minister, the PPPP is in turmoil again?

Mr. Gillani like Mr. Nawaz Sharif was a product of the Martial Law of General Zia-ul-Haq. He was part of the PML and then joined the PPP recently. It is amazing that Mr. Zardari would ignore people like Mr. Ahtizaz Ahsan, Mr. Amin Fahim, and Sherry Rehman and pick Mr. Gillani a recnet addition to the PPPP. 

In not-so veiled threats, Mr. Makhdoom Amin Fahim has suggested that he has 40 MNAs with him and support him. The PML(N) was apparently vociferously opposed to Mr. Makhdoom Amin Fahim because of his supposed close ties to President Musharraf. Now it seems to come to a head. The Tehran Times and The News are reporting that that Mr. Fahim has been dumped. 

The question is, does Mr. Fahims rejection mean that the crack in the PPPP will begin to become a rift and a chasm, or will the crack heal itself. The history of the PPPP seems to suggest that all splinter groups do not seem to survive, PPP-(SB), NPP, PPP Patriots and others have drifted away from the mother ship to wither away.

On the other hand, the Bhuttos are no longer in charge of the party and can the unpopular Mr. Zardari pull off the unification of the party. Will Mr. Zardari be able to calm down Mr. Makhdoom Amin Fahim?

The PPPP already has many factions le by:

1) Mr. Asif Zardari

2) Mr. Makhdoom Amin Fahim

3) Mr. Aitizaz Ahsan

4) Mr. Chaudhary Ahmad Mukhtar

Will Mr. Zardari be able to keep all the faction together or will be all splinter apart like the PML.

Gillani to win PM race in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (The News) — Veteran Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, who has pulled away from the electronic media glare, is going to carry the day by becoming the nominee of the party for the prime minister, informed PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leaders say.

“PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari has told Gillani that he will be the final choice on the conclusion of his ongoing consultations with the MNAs-elect in groups,” a senior party leader told The News.

Echoing the same theme, a prominent PML-N leader, currently engaged in crucial consultations with the PPP as part of his party’s negotiating team, said according to his reckoning, the former National Assembly speaker was going to ultimately win the nomination by Zardari.

Another PPP leader said Gillani had been asked to stay low in the current hullabaloo so that he did not embroil himself in controversies unnecessarily.

After saying that there is a very short distance between the Prime Minister House and the Adiala Jail (Rawalpindi) a few days back, Gillani has not been active, which has made many to believe that he has opted out of the prime minister’s race.

Gillani suffered a lot because of his imprisonment on a frivolous charge of recruiting people in the National Assembly Secretariat when he was its speaker.