Murad Ali Shah nominated for Sindh chief minister’s slot

LAHORE: With the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is all set to form the next government in Sindh for record fourth consecutive time, Murad Ali Shah has been picked to be the party’s nominee for provincial chief minister, ARY News reported on Friday.

Addressing a press conference following PPP’s Sindh parliamentary committee meeting, party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that Murad Ali Shah would be the party’s candidate for Sindh chief minister.

“We will request him to take the responsibility of this post again. But this time round we have to beat our own record,” the former foreign minister noted.

Murad Ali Shah was first elected Sindh chief minister in 2016. After the 2018 general elections, he was nominated for the coveted office by his party.

Bilawal Bhutto also announced that Naveed Anthony would be the candidate for Sindh Assembly deputy speaker. He further said that Awais Shah would be the candidate for Sindh Assembly speaker.

In the Feb 8 general elections held on 130 general seats of the Sindh Assembly, the PPP had secured 87 seats, followed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan that bagged 28 seats, Grand Democratic Alliance and Jamaat-i-Islami two each and 11 independents backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

The PPP enjoys a comfortable majority in the house and it doesn’t need support from any other party to get its speaker, deputy speaker and chief minister elected.

He thanked the people of Sindh for having ‘faith’ in PPP, saying that the people not only made his party successful but also gave better results as compared to the past.

The PPP chairman said that his party’s first priority after forming a government in Sindh would be to fulfil the promises made to flood affectees. “We will not just build houses but also give ownership rights to women,” he added.

Bilawal Bhutto further stated that there were several other projects regarding the flood affectees and reiterated that the same would be the PPP’s top priority.

He reiterated that PPP has not sought any ministry in the federal government, but demanded that the promises made to the flood affectees of Sindh and Balochistan be fulfilled. “The Sindh government will compete with the Centre in terms of performance,” he added.

The former foreign minister stressed that PPP needs to bury ‘the old and traditional politics’ for betterment of the country. Bilawal asked his elected MPAs and MNAs to ‘make him proud’ and work ‘day and night’ for the country.