BNP’s secretary general said that the matter would be announced soon after holding discussions with various parties.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told UNI about the initiative to form a “greater alliance”, but he declined to elaborate on its aims and objectives.
However, a member of the party’s Standing Committee Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said, “The decision to form the alliance was taken at a virtual meeting with BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman on Friday.
Regarding the alliance, he said that apart from the BNP-led 20-party alliance and the National Unity Front during the last national elections, many more will be in the alliance. “Many other parties think that the time has come for the government to resign and pave the way for elections to be held under a non-partisan government. For this, a bigger alliance is needed. That is why, the initiative has been taken to form the larger alliance”.
However, the structure and name of the alliance has not yet been finalized, he said. They will decide it after discussion with other political parties.
Khandaker Mosharraf said, “We have not yet started formal talks with the political parties, but we will start it soon”.
At least three members of BNP’s standing committee said that BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir would give details at a press conference on the larger alliance. He has been given the responsibility in this regard.
One of them, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “It is clear to us that this government has finalized all measures to usurp power. They have also enacted the Election Commission Act for the same purpose. Therefore, there is no alternative to holding national elections under a non-partisan neutral government by removing the present government. That is why, Tarique Rahman has emphasized on forming a bigger alliance”.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told UNI, “We have decided to form a larger alliance. Talks are going on. I will tell you in details on what the demands are and for what purpose this alliance will be, at a press conference later”.
Apart from the BNP-Jamaat 20-party alliance and the National Unity Front, it has been decided in principle to bring all those, who would agree with the one-point demand, into the alliance, they said. They want to formally start the work of the alliance after ending talks among themselves and reduction of Covid-19.
Major General (Retd) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, a member of the 20-party alliance and chairman of Kalyan Party, said, “I was sick so I don’t know the latest update. But unofficially, we have been talking about the bigger alliance for a long time. As the BNP standing committee has decided it, a big alliance must be formed. It has necessity. We need to build a larger movement for the interest of democracy and fair elections”.
Mahmudur Rahman Manna, president of Citizens’ Unity, said, “The BNP has not talked to me about the issue of the alliance. No talk was held with other leaders of the Unity Front as well. But they are talking about it for a long time. Maybe they will talk about it formally now”.
“There is no alternative to a larger alliance for mass movement. It can be on one stage again, on the other hand, it may be an alliance of different fronts. It has to be happened if we want to start an anti-government movement, and we want a change of the government”, he said.
Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, joint general secretary of ruling Awami League, in response to the BNP’s initiative to form a larger alliance, said that an alliance comprising 120 parties, led by ASM Abdur Rob, was formed during Ershad period. But they did not get a single seat in the election. We are not worried about the initiatives of BNP-Jamaat, because our strength is the people. If BNP could, it would have brought down the government long ago. Now those who will join the proposed alliance do not have that power. As long as the people are with the Awami League, Awami League has no tension about these”.
He added, “During the trial of war criminals and BNP leader Khaleda Zia in a corruption case, the BNP-Jamaat tried to bring down the government, but they could not do it. Because people are not with them. It has been proved that any movement cannot succeed without the support of the people. The people have not been with BNP before, and even not now”.
