Senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta has proposed the formation of a parliamentary committee headed by BNP chief Khaleda Zia to work on the format of an ‘interim’ government that will oversee the 10th parliamentary election.
The proposal from the ruling party AL’s Advisory Council Member came on Monday, the day Parliament resumed its 19th session after a brief adjournment.
The BNP had earlier rejected the government’s offer of having an ‘all-party’ election-time government to oversee the next election.
The opposition BNP was absent during the Parliament session.
“No more losses of lives, no more political instability. Come to Parliament, we will form a parliamentary committee led by you (Khaleda Zia) for constituting an interim or caretaker government,” Suranjit said in Parliament, referring to the opposition leader.
The major political alliances—the ruling AL-led grand alliance and the BNP-led 18-party coalition—have been arguing over the format of a poll-time government as the 90-day countdown to the next election began on Oct 25.
The AL feels the task of running a poll-time government should be looked after by representatives of the people to seal the gap through which a non-elected government had assumed power in 2007.
That caretaker government backed by military stayed in the power for almost two years, imprisoning top politicians, including chiefs of both the AL and the BNP, accusing them of corruption and power abuse while in power.
AL chief Sheikh Hasina favoured an ‘all-party’ government in her address to the nation. The BNP has refused to accept the offer, threatening a boycott of election held under a partisan government.
“We are about to strike a negotiation. You are talking about a caretaker government while we are discussing about an interim caretaker government,” said Suranjit.
“You call is non-party, while we call it all-party.”
The Minister without portfolio referred to the experiences politicians had under the caretaker governments who conducted three previous elections.
“Our experience from the three terms of caretaker governments shows that neutral people do not remain neutral once in power.”
Suranjit said that the opposition was late in come up with an election-time government proposal, and Khaleda’s refusal of the PM’s invitation for a dialogue outside the Parliament was against political decency and worsened the situation further.
Before Suranjit, AL MP Tofail Ahmed urged the BNP to call off its general strike and take part in the discussion for an ‘all-party’ poll-time government.
Earlier in the afternoon on Monday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told journalists at his Secretariat office that the ‘interim government’ would be formed after Sheikh Hasina returned from her Sri Lanka trip on Nov 17.
Muhith said the PM at a Cabinet meeting on Monday advised everyone to prepare for the election.
Suranjit had said a few days back that the ministers would step down soon to pave the way for an interim Cabinet.
Source: Bd news24
