Gilani endorses Bilawal as future PM candidate

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Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has endorsed ruling PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as a future prime ministerial candidate.

"It is up to the party. Our chairman should be the Prime Minister and I am with him," he said on the programme 'Prime Minister Online' on state-run PTV late last night.

He was responding to a question on whether he would be the PPP's prime ministerial candidate in the next election scheduled for 2013 in the presence of Bilawal who has formally entered politics.

"I am with the party. I was not a candidate (for the post of Prime Minister after the 2008 election). The party gave me the responsibility," he said.

Gilani's remarks came days after 23-year-old Bilawal, son of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, chaired a meeting of PPP leaders entrusted with handling public affairs and relations with the media.

Bilawal presided over the meeting held in Karachi on November 29 that was attended by PPP spokesman Qamar Zaman Kaira, parliamentarians Farzana Raja and Farahnaz Isphani and Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri.

Party insiders described the meeting as the first one chaired independently by Bilawal after he formally entered politics.

The PPP chairman asked the leaders to increase the activities of their wings.

He also called for establishing media cells in all four provinces of the country.

Media reports quoted Bilawal as saying that instead of adopting an aggressive approach for dealing with negative news regarding the PPP, the leaders should tackle such information in a technical manner.

Kaira told the media that Bilawal wanted the youth to join the PPP.