Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has taken a decision in principal to wage a movement soon to press home a one-point demand of general elections under a non-party caretaker government.
The decision was taken from the party’s standing committee meeting on Friday night. With the party’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman in the chair, the meeting was held virtually for almost five hours from 9:00pm, said several members of the standing committee.
BNP held the meeting on the day after the passage of election commission formation bill in the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) on Thursday.
Wishing to remain anonymous, a standing committee member told Prothom Alo that the party was trying to form a greater alliance for a long time but was not finding success. But the government is once again moving towards holding one-sided parliamentary elections by forming the election commission (EC) to its liking. Following the passage of the bill the party feels it cannot give anymore time to the government. There is no alternative to waging a movement to press home one-point demand, the member said.
Another BNP leader said though there are two BNP-lead alliances namely 20-party alliance and Jatiya Oikya Front, the party is yet to decide how the greater alliance will be formed including the two alliances.
The leader further said the party forum discussed about the issue in the meeting. The greater alliance would be formed after discussion about the one-point demand with all. None will be excluded. Everyone will play a role for their positions, the BNP leader added.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, BNP standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud said, “No final decision was taken on anything in the meeting yesterday. But we have been thinking of forming a greater alliance with those who would take to the roads and stay there.”