Bangladesh News

Awami League (AL) yesterday said it is working to forge a grand electoral alliance to face the BNP-Jamaat coalition in the parliamentary election planned for December.

Components of the AL-led 14-party combine however expressed total ignorance about the move.

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon told The Daily Star, “We didn’t have any discussions on the matter.”

Most of the combine members have reservations about HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party (JP) getting into the fold.

“We disapprove of forming an alliance with Jatiya Party,” said Menon adding that the JP has a hidden agenda in joining the alliance.

Citing discussions with AL president Sheikh Hasina, now in the US for treatment, Ershad yesterday said they will be with the AL-led alliance.

He said they plan to seek more seats for their candidates this time.

Replying to a query, he said taking his party to power is what matters most. It is not important for him to be the president.

Meanwhile, AL acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said, “We will start gearing up for the election at full throttle once the party chief returns home.”

He was talking to reporters after a view-exchange meeting with leaders of Awami Swechchhasebak League at AL acting president Zillur Rahman’s Gulshan residence yesterday.

Zillur said the two leaders [Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia] have been shown equal in a bid to rehabilitate “the deposed forces”.

Ashraf said the party president’s political office in Dhanmondi will be used for election groundwork. They have already brought several new computers for the purpose.

He said they are also trying to contact those who had been involved in the job before.

Asked about the initiative for grand alliance, the AL leader said one or two political parties have communicated with the AL president. Leaders from some other parties have been in close contact with AL presidium members, and he himself has talked to a few.

Ashraf said they will strive to ally themselves with secular and democratic forces. To a query about Islami Oikya Jote led by Misbaur Rahman, he said Misbaur’s is a secular political party and part of the pro-liberation forces.

About the proposed talks between the heads of AL and BNP, he said, “First, let a formal invitation reach us. Our central working committee will then decide how to respond.”

The AL spokesman said the High Court’s granting bail to Hasina yesterday is a ‘good sign’. He said they will continue their efforts to have all cases against her dismissed.

“We hope the government will withdraw all cases against her before her return,” Ashraf said.

He said they are working to accord Hasina a grand reception on return home.

AL presidium members Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed asked the government to declare a date for the general election without delay.

Abdur Razzak, another presidium member, said the government is trying to smudge the image of Hasina by comparing her to Khaleda.

JP

Addressing a gathering of some 300 leaders and workers of Munshiganj BNP joining JP, former president Ershad said there is no alternative to his party for the country to be led properly.

He claimed JP is the biggest factor in current politics.

Acting chairman Anisul Islam Mahmud, presidium members Kazi Zafar Ahmed, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu and Moshiur Rahman Ranga, and Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader, among others, were present on the occasion.