Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz has said that he had proposed the name of Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s for the position of caretaker prime minister and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accepted his proposal without an argument.

“I gave this name to the prime minister two days earlier in our first meeting. We agreed that we will not disclose the names till a name was finalised,” he told Shehzad Iqbal on Geo News.

According to Riaz, both he and PM Shehbaz Sharif had exchanged their names in the first meeting two days ago. “He [PM Shehbaz] said that he will consult with his colleagues and told me to discuss the names with my colleague because he was set to host a dinner for the PDM leaders where he took all the leaders in confidence.”

Riaz said that PM Shehbaz asked him who was on the top of the list advanced by the opposition. To which Riaz said it was Kakar. Shehbaz accepted the name without resistance.

“I said that he [Kakar] is from Balochistan and a good person. I requested him to kindly nominate Kakar and the prime minister accepted,” he added.

“He is from a small province and a friend of mine. It was in my mind that the caretaker prime minister should be from a small province when I went into discussion,” Riaz remarked.

Read: PDM leaders agree to appoint caretaker PM from small province

Dar and Khaqan never nominated

When asked about other candidates, Riaz refused to name them saying that he and PM Shehbaz have committed to not disclose the names to the media.

However, he said that the PML-N’s Ishaq Dar and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi were never nominated for caretaker PM.

He said that economists may become part of the caretaker cabinet.

“The finance minister will be an economist who I think will be a technocrat,” he added.

‘Qureshi will distance himself from Khan’

He believed that PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi has not been put behind bars and is freely holding press conferences as he has agreed that he will distance himself from Imran Khan.

“He is not in jail and holding press conferences while the true PTI workers and leaders are either arrested or on the run. Whoever is out and is holding pressers, has given commitment somewhere,” Riaz said while responding to Qureshi’s statement in which he claimed that neither Riaz nor PM Shehbaz has given the name of the caretaker PM.