MQM-P's Rana Ansar elected new opposition leader in Sindh Assembly

KARACHI: Rana Ansar MPA of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) elected the Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly to replace PTI’s Haleem Adil Shaikh, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Rana Ansar bagged 39 members’ support from 69 opposition members, including 20 MQM-P, 10 GDA members and nine PTI dissidents.

Sindh Assembly’s Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani while felicitating the new opposition leader said, “You are the first woman who has been elected as the leader of this house”.

New opposition leader thanked the party and Speaker Sindh Assembly. “A woman feels the agony of Sindh. The people of Sindh have elected me to this house, we have required water, gas and infrastructure”, she said.

MQM-P had submitted a request in the provincial legislature for change of the opposition leader in the house and nominated Rana Ansar for the office.

The MQM-P lawmakers filed her nomination to the Sindh Assembly Secretariat after getting the signatures of the lawmakers. The application was filed in the PA Secretariat by MQM-P’s Farooq Sattar, Nasreen Jalil, Rana Ansar and others.

While talking to journalists, Farooq Sattar said that the opposition leader and other lawmakers of his party were not attending the provincial assembly. There is a need to fill this gap in the Sindh Assembly to represent the opposition benches, he added.

Farooq Sattar said that the Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader have to decide about the caretaker chief minister. He added that MQM-P has full confidence in Rana Ansar who is also the party’s parliamentary leader.