Raza Rabbani leaves the corridors of power

SLAMABAD: Raza Rabbani, an old Pakistan Peoples Party guard, on Friday left the power corridors with a heavy heart after failing to keep pace with the policies that ran parallel to the founders of the party ideals.

Senior PPP leader had resigned from both of his offices, as leader of the house in Senate and federal minister for inter-provincial coordination; on Monday last when party efforts failed to convince him to compromise on the nomination of Farooq H. Naek for the coveted office of Chairman Senate.

In his view and view of many party colleagues it was his right to ascend to the Chairman Senate office as he remained one of the closest confidants of late Benazir Bhutto and was the most experienced parliamentarian over the years.

In his tenure as leader of the house Rabbani had established himself as a friendly and most cooperative leader who ran the upper house with great vigor.

PM Gilani on Friday met Raza Rabbani and tried his level best to convince him to withdraw his resignations from both slots, sources told Online.

However Rabbani refused to take back his resignations saying that he could not be part of policies being formulated by the Government because the Government was opening up new fronts instead of honoring pledges made by late Benazir Bhutto.

Rabbani, after the farewell call on Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, announced that he will now focus on the completion of his book ‘Islam and terrorism’ and his law practice, in addition to attending to party affairs in his capacity as deputy secretary general.

He refused to comment on the ongoing political turmoil but said that if the party required of him, he will resume his work of completing the all important report of the 17-member bipartisan parliamentary committee which he also chairs.