Opposition leader wants his own man as caretaker PM!

ISLAMABAD: The delay in nominating a caretaker prime minister has been attributed to the strange insistence of the opposition leader to bring his own man on the coveted post.

Sources say Raja Riaz, a dissident of the PTI who had no backing of any political party in the National Assembly, turned out to be different man when he sat with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to decide on a name for the caretaker PM. 

He proposed and insisted on picking Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani for the post and reports said he was taking dictation from somewhere else. It has been learnt that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif was adamant on making Ishaq Dar as the caretaker premier. His second option was PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Meanwhile, President Arif Alvi in a letter to the prime minister asked him to finalize the name by Aug 12.  However, Shehbaz Sharif ridiculed the letter, saying the president might not have read the constitution otherwise he would not have had such a hurry.

It may be noted that different names have been circulating in the media, including that of former foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, as the caretaker prime minister.