BNP wants elections by December this year after the completion of necessary reforms. The party has been holding meeting with all types of parties— rightist, leftists, Islami, small, big— who had participated in anti-fascism movement. The goal of the meetings was to create ‘All-party Consensus,’ by which they can get clear roadmap for elections within December.
BNP has already held meetings with half a dozen parties and organizations. The party is seeking an election-centric solution through dialogues and political unity rather than taking the path of movement to realize its demands. BNP's position in the Consensus Commission is that elections should be held by December with minimal reforms.
When asked, BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said, "We have started discussions with all those who were on the streets in the anti-fascist movement on what can be done. After this discussion, the countrymen will be informed about what can or cannot be done."
Another Standing Committee member, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, said, “BNP wants to build greater unity among political parties on the issue of elections by December.”
BNP officials say that BNP wants to build all-party unity and public opinion to complete the national elections by December this year. On April 16, BNP also called for the announcement of a roadmap in a meeting with the interim government's chief advisor, Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus. But the chief advisor said nothing clear about the announcement of the roadmap, and said that the elections would be held between December and June. Despite they are not satisfied with the response, they are not going towards street protests. Instead, they have chosen dialogue as their strategy.
The party started this process through a meeting of the BNP's liaison committee with the leaders of the 12-party alliance on April 19. A separate meeting was also held with the LDP on that day. For this purpose, BNP has held meetings with at least 50 small and medium parties in addition to parties like CPB, BSD, Gana Adhikar Parishad, LDP and Gana Sanghati Andolon. These meetings were led by Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Iqbal Mahmud Tuku and Barkat Ullah Bulu. Despite the small-scale meetings with BNP, the positions of all parties on various issues are still not completely clear. Although they agree with BNP on the election issue, they do not want to make Jamaat-e-Islami an open partner in the unity for strategic reasons.
National People's Party Chairman Dr. Fariduzzaman Farhad, the coordinator of the Nationalist Like-Minded Alliance, said, "In the meeting with BNP, we voted in favor of elections by December. After December, there is a fear of many natural disasters in our country. In addition, Ramadan will begin. He said, “It’s not the job of the current government to provide a humanitarian corridor. To take such a decision, discussions will have to be held with political parties. The humanitarian corridor will eventually turn into a military corridor and bring disaster to the country. Besides, it is not good for an unelected government to remain in power for a long time.”
AB Party Chairman Mujibur Rahman Manju said, “If the election program is taken, another party may come out publicly saying, "There is no election at this time. For this, the situation may become unnecessarily complicated.”
(Translated by Lutful Hoque Hoque)
