By APP,
Islamabad : Ruling coalition, PML-Q and PML-Q forward bloc held separate meetings prior to the presidential election here at the Parliament House on Saturday. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani chaired the joint parliamentary party meeting of all the coalition parties including PPP, JUI-F and ANP. MQM legislators also attended the meeting.
Later briefing the media, Izhar Amrohvi said that Prime Minister, in his address, had said that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari would address the joint session of the Parliament, which was a Constitutional provision.
He said that the PM said the former President did not address the joint session of the Parliament, which was a violation of the Constitution.
Amrohvi said around 260 MPs had attended the meeting. He said many others MPs may also vote for Asif Zardari according to their conscience.
Three PML-Q legislators including Acting Chairman Senate Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali and MNA Syed Ayaz Shah Shirazi also attended the meeting.
PML-Q also held its Parliamentary Party meeting which was chaired by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. According to sources, out of its total strength of 91 MPs, around 49 legislators attended the meeting.
Those prominent included Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani, Kamil Ali Agha, S.M. Zafar, Sardar Farooq Legahri, Jamal Leghari, Riaz Pirzada, Dr. Khalid Ranjha, Marvi Memon, Nisar Memon, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Yasmin Shah, Ghous Bakhsh Khan Mehr, Dilawar Abbas, Sh. Waqas Akram, Akram Masih Gill, Jam Muhammad Yusuf, Nasir Mengal, Dr. Donia Aziz, Javed Ashraf Qazi, Wasim Sajjad, Haroon Akhtar Khan and others.
Later, Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani told the journalists that all the legislators vowed to stay united and vote for the PML-Q candidate Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
He said the legislators were also briefed on the voting procedure.
Meanwhile, nine dissident legislators of the PML-Q held a separate meeting which was also attended by PPP leaders Begum Faryal Talpur, Mehreen Anwer Raja and Mir Aijaz Jakhrani.
Nasruallah Khan Bajarani, Riaz Fatyana, Kashmala Tariq, Prince Mohyuddin, Prince Nawaz Elahi, Nouman Lengryal, Bahadur Khan Seehr, Sardar Talib Nakai, and Israr Khan Tareen attended the meeting.
Later, Kashmala Tariq told the media that the dissident group was in touch with PPP leadership for last four months and they have decided to vote for PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
“We are total 35 legislators who would vote for Asif Zardari,” she said.