United News of Bangladesh

BNP is facing an uphill task to reach an amicable understanding with its political allies and calm their anger over seat sharing after announcing its own candidates in 272 constituencies in two phases ahead of the 13th parliamentary election. Talking to UNB, some BNP and alliance leaders said several allied parties became upset as they expected more seats than BNP offered them, while some others became angry after getting only promises of future evaluation without any seat. BNP leaders, however, said they have continued talks to reach a compromise on seat-sharing and keep the alliance united. On Wednesday, BNP held separate meetings in Dhaka with two alliance platforms involved in the anti-fascist joint movement – Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote and the 12-Party Alliance. Read more: BNP weighing review of ‘controversial’ nominations amid grassroots unrest A BNP Standing Committee member, wishing anonymity, said they told allies that seats could be reviewed in favour of strong candidates from partner parties. He said some seats where BNP has already announced its candidates may be reconsidered for allies. The BNP leader, however, said they made it clear that due to strategy it will not be possible to leave all demanded seats for partners. In that case, he said, they assured allies that if the party forms the next government, their leaders will be given important posts in the Upper House of Parliament or in different state institutions. BNP leaders said they are determined to keep the alliance united logically and responsibly. “We are trying to reach an understanding with the allies by providing them with a logical number of seats.” Read more: Concerns grow over ‘administrative preparations’ for Bangladesh election So far, BNP has declared candidates in 272 seats, leaving 28 seats vacant, and the party has said the remaining seats are mainly for its allies. But alliance leaders claimed that they submitted their candidate lists as BNP requested, yet BNP announced its nominees without discussion. Top leaders from several small alliance parties who were seeking nominations in at least six constituencies were not considered, as BNP announced its own candidates there. On 10 December, 29 allied parties, including Ganatantra Mancha, the 12-Party Alliance, the Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote, Gono Odhikar Parishad and Gonoforum, met at Shishu Kallyan Parishad to decide their next steps and demanded that BNP clarify its seat-sharing policy. Following that pressure, BNP on Wednesday met the two allies separately to calm frustrations. The first meeting took place between 12pm and 1pm with the Jatiyatabadi Samamona Jote at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office. Read more: BNP nomination hopefuls frustrated as party delays green signal BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee Members Nazrul Islam Khan and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku represented BNP. Alliance convener Dr Fariduzzaman Farhad and several leaders attended the meeting and raised various demands and voiced frustration that BNP announced its candidates without discussion, said a leader of the platform. He said they told BNP that they had stayed with the party in the joint movement and would continue to support the party to ensure victory for the ‘sheaf of paddy’, BNP’s election symbol. The alliance leader said they requested BNP to reconsider the Narail-2 constituency for their chief Dr Farhad, who contested the seat in the 2018 election. He said Mirza Fakhrul told the meeting that BNP was seriously considering reviewing the Narail-2 seat. “It would not be possible to give seats to all alliance partners due to strategic reasons, but those who do not receive seats will be honoured later based on merit if BNP forms the government,” he quoted Fakhrul as saying. After the meeting, Dr Farhad told UNB that the talks were “positive” and expressed confidence in BNP’s leadership. Read more: Bangladesh must avoid return to fascism: Moyeen Khan Later, from 4pm to 5pm, BNP held another meeting with the 12-Party Alliance, where alliance leaders placed highest importance on three seats – Kushtia-2, Kishoreganj-5 and Pirojpur-1. Two of the seats already have BNP candidates, while Pirojpur-1 remains vacant. A leader of the 12-Party Alliance said BNP leaders assured them that their demands would be given serious consideration. Contacted, BNP Standing Committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said they are in talks with alliance partners to reach an understanding over the seat-sharing issue. He, however, said it may not be possible to satisfy every partner by giving them seats, as winning the election must remain the priority. “So, we consider sharing seats only with those who have the potential to win.” Tuku said BNP has finalised its candidates after careful assessment of many factors. “We have still kept 28 seats vacant and many of those will be shared with our alliance partners. Everyone needs to be patient.” Read more: BNP forms reception committee ahead of Tarique’s return

Chief Coordinator of the 12-Party alliance and Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar) Chairman Mustafa Jamal Haider on Sunday urged the National Consensus Commission to reach a consensus over minimum reform proposals without unnecessary delay. “We are not willing to waste time day after day. We should quickly reach a minimum level of consensus. If some issues remain incomplete or disputed, we can reform them in the course of time,” he said. He made the remarks while taking part in a dialogue with the National Consensus Commission at the LD Hall of the Jatiya Sangsad Complex. An 11-member delegation from the alliance, led by him, took part in the dialogue presided over by Consensus Commission Vice Chairman Prof Ali Riaz. BNP gears up to welcome Khaleda as she’s returning from London Mustafa Jamal Haider said having differences and disagreements among political parties are quite natural. “This is the beauty and strength of democracy. Still, we must reach a consensus on minimum reforms so that no scope is left for authoritarian rule to reemerge.” He said the actual goal should be to ensure that no new powerful person or Chief Justice in the future can manipulate the constitution to impose autocracy by exploiting loopholes in the existing state structure. He stressed the urgency of entrusting state power to elected public representatives to fulfill the democratic aspirations of the nation. Mustafa Jamal Haider, however, said the Commission is making efforts to address long-standing structural inconsistencies and problems accumulated over the decades. Consensus Commission members Safar Raj Hossain, Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar and Dr Mohammad Ayub Miah were present at the discussion, moderated by Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Monir Haider. The 12-party alliance has expressed agreement with 111 out of the 166 reform proposals placed by the National Consensus Commission, disagreed with 48 and refrained from giving opinions on seven proposals. On March 20 last, the Consensus Commission opened a series of talks with political parties to forge a national consensus on state reform initiatives undertaken by the interim government. The commission has already held talks with 23 political parties, including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the National Citizen Party (NCP).  

A new political alliance of a dozen parties has been unveiled to join the BNP-planned simultaneous anti-government movement aimed at unseating the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, organisers said on Thursday. Previously these 12 parties were part of a 20-party alliance led by BNP. Mostafa Jamal Haidar, Chairman of a faction of Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), announced the formation of the new alliance at a press briefing at the Jatiya Press Club on Thursday. Read more: BNP MP Harunur Rashid submits resignation to JS Speaker The partners of the new alliance are Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), Bangladesh Kalyan Party, Bangladesh Labour Party, Bangladesh Jatiya Dal, NDP, LDP (Selim), Muslim League, Jamiyet Ulamaye Islam, Islami Oikkya Jote, Jagpa, Islamic Party and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal. “I can firmly say that our understanding and unity with the biggest opposition party of the country BNP will remain the same as before. We are moving forward with the new tactics to build greater unity with participation of those political parties, which are against this fascist government,” he said. “There is no scope of misunderstanding and we all move together on the path of simultaneous movement,” said Mostafa. Read more: Samyabadi Dal (ML) welcomes BNP’s 27-point campaign Labour Party chairman Mostafizur Rahman read out the declaration paper of the newly formed 12-party alliance. “We have decided to participate in the ongoing anti-government movement to restore democracy and people’s voting rights, and we will be recognised as a 12-party alliance,” said Mostafizur. “The 12-party alliance will remain active on streets in simultaneous anti-government movement with BNP to force the government to resign and hold the election under a caretaker government through a new Election Commission. We’ll continue our movement until the achievement of final victory,” he said. The 12-party alliance also considers the BNP’s 27-point outline of ‘Structural Reform of the State’ as a ‘national charter of emancipation’ and expressed solidarity with it, he added. Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, chairman of Kallyan Party, said, “Before abolition, the 20-party alliance held its last meeting at the BNP Chairperson’s Office on December 9, 2022 where the leaders of the alliance decided not to use the previous name 20-party alliance. The 20-party alliance formed on April 18, 2012.” There are two registered political parties in the 12-party alliance—one is Bangladesh Kallyan Party and another is Bangladesh Muslim League, he added. The other parties have filed their petitions to the Election Commission for registration and it is expected that a positive result will come, said Ibrahim. The alliance is planning to go to the divisional cities after December 30 and they will take their decision about it soon, Ibrahim said. “We will join all programmes of BNP and as part of the simultaneous movement we will bring out mass processions on December 30. We will gather at the Bijoy Nagar area around 2 pm,” he added.