The new anti-govt alliance Jatiya Oikya Front will decide whether to announce programmes to press for fresh schedule for the general election in a key meeting on Saturday, according to people familiar with the matter.
The meeting is scheduled to take place at BNP chief’s Gulshan offices following a meeting of BNP’s policymaking National Standing Committee and a meeting of the 20-party Alliance led by the party.
Oli Ahmed to act as 20-party Alliance’s coordinator
According to senior BNP leaders, the National Standing Committee members will sit for a meeting in the afternoon and the party plans to clear its stance on the election after the meeting of 20-party Alliance.
Sources at the BNP said that its Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan will be replaced by LDP President Oli Ahmed as the coalition’s chief coordinator.
Oli will represent the BNP-led alliance in Oikya Front meetings, they said.
Programs likely demanding for fresh polls schedule
Several Oikya Front leaders said that the coalition will contest the 11th Parliamentary Election, but an initial decision has been taken to demand for a fresh schedule, which is likely to be finalised at Saturday’s meeting in Gulshan.
“The Jatiya Oikya Front is positive about the election, which will be finalised during the coalition’s meeting at the BNP chief’s offices today. The final call will come after that meeting,” Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna told Bangla Tribune.
According to highly placed sources in the BNP, the party’s priority has shifted from waging a movement and it now views the election as a part of it.
The party considers waging a movement or boycotting the polls as ‘suicidal’, they say.
Its allies in the new coalition also are in favour of going to elections.
“We will not go for any kind of programmes that might disrupt the election,” JSD General Secretary Abdul Malek Ratan told Bangla Tribune last week.
However, Oikya Front leader Dr Kamal Hossain or his party Gano Forum is yet to clear its position on contesting the election as an alliance.
Oikya Front leaders expect the issue to be finalised on Saturday. They say the meeting will focus on three issues— strategies for contesting the polls, probable candidates of allies for negotiations on parliament seats and strategies for taking part in the election as a coalition.

Briefing of diplomats set for Monday

A briefing for Dhaka-based diplomats has been scheduled but it’s yet to be confirmed whether it would be organised by the BNP or the Jatiya Oikya Front.

Sources at the BNP’s Foreign Affairs Committee said that briefing will focus on the Nov 1 and 7 Ganababhan talks with the government and the Oikya Front.

“Briefing the diplomats is a regular thing, which will happen on Monday. We will discuss the current political issues,” BNP Vice-Chairman Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, who serves as the convener of the foreign affairs committee, told Bangla Tribune.