The BNP has drafted three models of a polls-time interim government which the main opposition party will unveil soon as a means of resolving the ongoing political crisis over holding a free and fair general election.
All the three models proposed picking a neutral and non-partisan eminent citizen for the post of chief adviser of the interim government, highly placed sources in the BNP told The Daily Star yesterday.
The ruling Awami League and the BNP will choose the chief adviser on consensus and s/he will be elected to parliament through a by-election in a constituency.
On nominating 10 technocrat advisers of the interim government, the three models suggested three options.
One option is that the AL and the BNP will select five neutral and non-partisan dignitaries each for appointment as advisers.
Another proposal says the AL will nominate five of its advisory council members and BNP chief Khaleda Zia will nominate five of her advisers to be appointed advisers.
And the other model suggests picking five ministers from the present cabinet led by Sheikh Hasina and another five from Khaleda Zia’s past cabinet to be made advisers.
A BNP source said the party will demand three portfolios in the polls-time government– home, local government and rural development, and foreign affairs — for its nominated advisers.
Asked, acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir confirmed the party’s move to come up with the models of an interim government.
“We will present before the nation this month two or three proposals for the formation of an election-time interim government. Efforts are underway to this effect,” Fakhrul said yesterday.
He also said his party is going to make the proposals public in response to repeated calls from the government and the AL to put forward ideas, if it has any, on the formation of a polls-time government.
Since the scrapping of the CG system in June 2011, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her colleagues in the cabinet and the ruling party have been urging the BNP to place proposals as regards an interim administration.
But the main opposition party refused to do so, saying that its proposal will be rejected since the ruling party has an overwhelming majority in parliament.
Last week, the prime minister announced that the next general election would be held any day between October 27 and January 24 without dissolving the present parliament and the cabinet.
The BNP vehemently opposed the announcement and vowed to resist holding of the election as per the premier’s announcement.
This worsened the political impasse centring on the next election, triggering fears of unrest in the coming days.
Meanwhile, efforts of the international community, especially the UN chief, to resolve the political impasse has boosted hopes for a solution.
Against this backdrop, the BNP has changed its stance and opted for making its proposals public. But it will not place those in parliament. Instead, it will announce the proposals through a press conference, a BNP source said.
Besides, on an invitation from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a two-member BNP delegation is supposed to meet him in the middle of this month.
On August 23, the UN chief called Hasina and Khaleda urging them to sit for talks to resolve the political standoff centring on the general election.
He asked Khaleda to send two of her party leaders to meet him during the UN General Assembly session in New York.
Asked whether the BNP will place its three models to the UN chief when its delegation meets him, Fakhrul said the party policymakers will consult Khaleda Zia to decide on this issue.
Source: The Daily Star
