Sheikh Hasina to meet party allies after a gap of 16 months
After 16 long months Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the president of Awami League, is to meet the partners of 14-party alliance. The meeting is scheduled to be held at the prime minister’s official residence, Ganabhaban at 7pm this Wednesday.
Top leader of the alliance Sheikh Hasina last held a meeting with the allies on 15 March last year. That meeting too was held after almost three years of Awami League assuming power for the third consecutive time through the election of 2018.
Sheikh Hasina is to hold the meeting with the alliance partners at a time when various opposition parties and alliances have joined a one-point movement under BNP, calling for the government to step down before the election.
Certain pressure is being put on the government from inside as well as outside of the country, a few months prior to the next national parliament election.
Diplomats from the US and other western countries in Dhaka are noticeably active to ensure a free and fair election. Just last week, US under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, Uzra Zeya visited Dhaka and held meetings at different governmental levels.
Earlier in May, the US announced a new visa policy for Bangladesh. Currently, a European Union delegation is in Dhaka on a 16-day visit to evaluate the situation to decide if election observers will be sent or not.
Under such circumstances, top leaders of the ruling 14-party alliance have been called for a meeting. Rashed Khan Menon, president of Workers Party, an important partner of this alliance, told Prothom Alo that there will be discussions on the overall political situation including the next election and the opposition’s movement in their meeting with alliance leader Sheikh Hasina.
A leader from another allied party has said that Sheikh Hasina in the last meeting with the allies, held in March last year, had talked of contesting in the next national election as an alliance in continuation to the past three elections.
The alliance partners have held a grudge on grounds of different allegations including negligence and and not being given due importance. At different times, some of the leaders from the allied parties have also commented openly about that, he added.
That leader from one of the alliance partners mentioned that any such grudges can also be discussed in Wednesday’s meeting of top alliance leaders.
Two of the topmost leaders from each party of the alliance have been invited to attend the meeting with Awami League president Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday. Reportedly, the president and the general secretary or the convener and the joint convener of those parties will be taking part in the meeting.