The BNP has almost wrapped up the process for a larger coalition outside the 20-party Alliance it leads.
The more than two years of negotiation to form an alliance with Kamal Hossain-led Gono Forum, AQM Badrudozza Chowdhury’s Bikalpa Dhara, ASM Rab’s Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD and Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s Nagorik Oikya might come to an end on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the process.
The four parties are already part of the Badrudozza Chowdhury-led coalition styled ‘Jukta Front’.
Pro-BNP professionals' leader Zafrullah Chowdhury, who is involved in the process, said the final call can be expected after a meeting scheduled for Tuesday at the residence of Kamal Hossain.
“Please do wait for a good news,” is what Chowdhury told Bangla Tribune when reached for a comment.
The key hurdle for BNP to get on board with these parties has been its ally the Jamaat-e-Islami, but the party seems to have devised a way around.
The 20-party Alliance will stay as it is while the BNP will join the new coalition as a single party, according to several leaders of the party.
“Jamaat will not be a part of the new coalition. They will maintain their coalition with the BNP under the 20-party Alliance,” said Chowdhury.
A senior BNP leader, who sits on the party policymaking forum said there was 'no problem with Jamaat apart from one or two minor issues’.
“We have made it clear that Jamaat will not be part of the larger coalition rather it will remain in the 20-party Alliance,” said the BNP National Standing Committee member asking not to be named.
People familiar with talks of the new coalition said that the BNP is in negotiations with the parties over its proposal, but the Bikalpa Dhara has made it clear that the party has to shun Jamaat, which opposed Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.
“Bikalpa Dhara will not form an alliance with the BNP keeping Jamaat as its ally,” Secretary-General Mahi B Chowdhury said. “We will not agree into any kind of relation with Jamaat, be it direct or indirect.”
Nagorik Oikyo’s Manna, however, refrained from making a clear statement on the issue while speaking to Bangla Tribune.
“Let the BNP decide on what they will do. I am hopeful about the coalition. However, further discussions will be required for a final outcome,” he said.
A senior leader of the Jukta Front, preferring anonymity, confirmed Bangla Tribune that Jamaat will not be part of the new coalition.
“The concept we believe in is, only the BNP will take part in the programmes of the new coalition,” he said.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Friday, BNP National Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said, “The like-minded political parties will come to negotiations with the BNP, once they have locked in on a policy."
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told Bangla Tribune that he was hopeful about the alliance.
“All parties will have to move together to ensure a free, fair and credible national election,” he said.
Mirza Fakhrul met BNP chief Khaleda Zia at the prison on Saturday.
Emerging from the hour-long visit, he, however, told the media that their discussion did not include any organisational and political issues.



Sources in the BNP, however, said that a faction of the party is pressing to shun Jamaat, which actively opposed Bangladesh’s independence during the 1971 Liberation War.
According to them, in 1991, the BNP was in talks with several independent MPs, including Rashed Khan Menon to form the government, when another faction of the party included Jamaat then.
BNP Standing Committee member Jamiruddin Sircar says, “The BNP’s weakness to them (Jamaat) started in 1991.”
After Jamaat decided to float its own mayoral candidate in the recent Sylhet city polls, BNP grassroots pressed the leadership to drop them.
However, several BNP leaders, especially jailed party chief Khaleda, are against it.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Aug 14, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul said, “I have been saying that they (Jamaat) are a part of the (20-party) Alliance.”
Jamaat, however, said it has no problems with the BNP engaging in talks outside the 20-party Alliance.
“Our decision is to remain with the alliance. The latest updates conclude that the 20-party Alliance will remain. We have no problems in talks with parties outside the alliance,” Jamaat’s Nayeb-e-Amir Mia Golam Parwar told Bangla Tribune.
Referring to the movement against military dictator HM Ershad, he said that liaisons were maintained then between different political coalitions.
“We will back the movement against the fascist government as part of a separate coalition. We agree in principle with the concept,” he told Bangla Tribune.