Not satisfied at all: BNP after meeting Bangladesh chief adviser

Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over its talks with Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus as he did not give any election deadline despite the party's repeated demand to hold the polls by December.

A seven-member delegation led by BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir met Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna here and discussed various issues, including the election roadmap, economic situation, withdrawal of political cases and the trial process of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We are not satisfied at all,” Alamgir told reporters after a two-and-a-half-hour-long meeting with Yunus. "The CA (chief adviser) did not give a deadline; he said polls would be held between December-June. We are not satisfied with that."

Alamgir said that the elections must be held by December otherwise Bangladesh’s economic and political situation would worsen and “it will be harder to bring it under control”.

"We have made it clear that our 'cutoff time is December," the BNP leader added.

Nobel laureate Yunus, who was in a protracted row with the previous regime for obscure reasons, assumed the charge of the interim government in August after Sheikh Hasina left Bangladesh for India following anti-government protests that ended her nearly 16-year-long regime.

A group of students who led protests against the Hasina regime recently floated a political party - National Citizen Party (NCP) - with Yunus’ blessings. The new party insisted the elections should be held only after the required reforms and the trial of the leaders of the ousted regime.

Alamgir said the BNP extended full support to the reform process and also agreed that when all the parties reach a consensus, “we are ready to make a charter based on those”.

“(But) an elected political party can turn the reform consensus into reality," he said.

In a separate interaction with reporters, BNP's highest policymaking Standing Committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said that the "elections can be held (even) before December because the chief adviser himself has said that reforms will be implemented, on which there is consensus”.

“So, there is no reason not to give a roadmap for the elections," said Chowdhury, who too joined the meeting with Yunus as a member of the BNP delegation.

Law Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul told reporters that “several (government) decisions went against BNP, while we said several went in their favour as well”.

“It appeared to us that BNP is very sincere about the reforms as they agreed to most of the proposed reform measures,” Nazrul said.

There could, however, be some differences regarding elections, he said, adding that the BNP demanded elections by December.

“Our chief adviser repeatedly said the election will be held between December and June... it does not mean we will deliberately delay the polls, it means the election will be held in the quickest possible time in between December and June,” the adviser said.

The chief adviser’s office said discussions were held in a free and frank manner.

NCP convenor Nahid Islam, who until recently served as an adviser of the government and quit to float the party, told reporters Wednesday that the bureaucracy favoured BNP in many cases.

“NCP thinks no election could be held under such an administration,” he said.