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Dejected Gilani wanted to become a de facto PM

LAHORE - The now dejected Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani wanted to enjoy the status of

a de facto Prime Minister after his conviction by the apex court as a reward for his

supreme sacrifice he rendered by not writing the Swiss letter, said the party sources

privy to the cold war going on between the former and the incumbent Prime Minister

for the last over three months, during which, the Presidency apparently played the

role of a silent spectator.

Since he had sacrificed his Premiership and earned disqualification for five years, he

thought he deserved special place in the party; and as such, wanted to become a de

facto Prime Minister with reasonable control over the important matters, a senior

PPP leader disclosed while commenting on Gilanis latest statement complainingabout governments apathy towards him and his son Musa Gilani.

In fact, Gilani had high expectations from the government as well as the party which

were hard to be fulfilled, said another party leader who termed his criticism of the

government unjustified, maintaining that arrest of Musa Gilani and changes in the

federal bureaucracy were not the actual reasons behind Gilanis discontentment.

Gilani, who seemed much dejected and forsaken at the news conference he had spe-

cially convened on Saturday to give vent to his frustration against his own party s

government, minced no words when he expressed his annoyance over displacement

of his team of bureaucrats from their lucrative positions.

Sources close to Gilani told this scribe that following his bold stance before the judi-

ciary and his subsequent disqualification by the Supreme Court for not writing the

letter, the ex-PM had expected that party would hold him in high esteem and the

new Prime Minister would act on his advice on important matters. But this did not

happen and Gilani resented this too much, they said, adding, that restrictions on his

visitors coming to the Presidency might have precipitated the matters.Similarly, the sources said, Gilani, who is also Vice Chairman of the PPP, was not

happy with the party leadership which did not consult him while awarding tickets to

candidates for the coming by-elections.

In this context, it is important to note that it was President Asif Ali Zardaris sister,

Faryal Talpur who finalised party candidates during her stay at the Governors

House last week. She consulted a number of party leaders before announcing her fi-

nal choice, but Gilani was not part of the consultation process at any stage.In a related development, Yousuf Raza Gilani has reportedly expressed his inability

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to address partys election rallies ahead of by-elections. His decision to stay away

from electioneering has come only a day after he left the Presidency and addressed a

news conference to complain that he was not being looked after well by the party af-

ter his conviction.

Moreover, slow progress on south Punjab province is also stated to be one of the rea-

sons behind Gilanis outbursts against the government. During his Premiership, hehad championed the cause of South Punjab province and wanted to take credit for its

creation.

However, almost all the PPP leaders with whom this scribe talked to disagreed with

the impression that Gilani was unhappy over governments flexible attitude on the

issue of writing letter to the Swiss authorities.

They said that Gilani stays assured that the government would never write the letter

unless it clearly mentioned the Presidential immunity at home and abroad. It couldalso be construed from Gilanis Saturday media talk that he was not perturbed over

the issue at all.