Bhutto’s son Bilawal not keen to lead PPP: Aide

Slain ex-PM Bhutto's son Bilawal is not keen on leading her Pak People's Party (PPP), a close aide of assassinated leader said.

Slain ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto’s teenage son Bilawal is not keen on leading her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), a close aide of the assassinated leader said.

Sherry Rehman, Bhutto’s spokesperson who was with her when she was attacked by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi on Thursday, said 19-year-old Bilawal is ‘not keen’ on heading the party.

“No decision has been taken as yet on the leadership of the party. I don’t want to pre-empt things before the central executive committee of the PPP meets (to decide on who should lead the party),” Rehman told Geo News at Naudero, Bhutto’s ancestral village.

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Rehman also indicated that Bilawal would go back to Britain’s Oxford University to continue his studies.

Bilawal would read out his mother’s will at the meeting of the PPP’s top leadership to be held at 3 pm local time.

Rehman said the meeting will also decide whether the PPP would participate in the upcoming general election. “There are different viewpoints which will be discussed at the meeting,” she said.

Many in the PPP are keen on nominating Bilawal, who uses his mother’s surname, to head the party in order to carry on the Bhutto legacy.

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Reports have suggested that the PPP could set up an advisory council headed by Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari until Bilawal completes his studies and attains the age of 25, when he would be eligible to contest polls.

Though Zardari wields considerable power within the party, he is not popular at the grassroots level as numerous charges of corruption were levelled against him during Bhutto’s two stints as prime minister.