20-party leaders to meet Monday

Amid strong resentment by some alliance partners over the swearing in by five Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MPs, the top leaders of 20-party alliance are going to sit in a meeting on Monday.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office around 4:00pm, BNP chairperson's media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan told news agency UNB on Saturday.

A top leader of the alliance, wishing not to be named, said the alliance leaders will seek an explanation from the BNP over sending its MPs to parliament without consulting the alliance partners since they rejected the 30 December election earlier.

He said they will also discuss on ways to revive the BNP-led 20-party alliance as a strong political platform alongside BNP's another alliance Jatiya Oikya Front.

Besides, the 20-party leader said they will discuss the country's latest political situation and work out their next course of action.

He also said they are trying to convince Andaleeve Rahman Partha, chairman of Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), one of the key partners of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, to join the meeting revoking his decision to quit the alliance.

Earlier on 6 May, Partha announced to quit the 20-party coalition for various reasons, including swearing in by seven MPs of Jatiya Oikya Front.

The party also said they left the 20-party alliance as the BNP has become too much Oikya Front-oriented one, while the 20-party a name-only platform to express solidarity with the BNP's decisions.

A BNP senior leader said they will explain their position at the meeting and try to remove the grievances of the alliance partners to keep it intact.