Also mulls resignation from Sangsad
The BNP will resort to all possible means including resignation of party lawmakers from parliament to resist the government bid to hold the next general election without dissolving the present parliament and the cabinet, some BNP policymakers have indicated.
“For this, we will do whatever is required. Even we will consider resignation from parliament,” BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed told The Daily Star yesterday.
Another member of the main opposition party’s highest policymaking body, Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, echoed his views.
“We are making preparations both for elections and agitations. If there is a solution to the present political crisis, we will move towards election. If there is no solution, we will intensify the anti-government agitation” said Mahbub.
Both Moudud and Mahbub, however, said the standing committee headed by BNP chief Khaleda Zia will sit to decide the party’s next course of action in the wake of the latest political developments.
Acting secretary general of the party Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a rally yesterday urged the opposition activists to make preparation for a tougher agitation.
“We have a few weeks in hand for preparation. We have no alternative. Within this time, we have to prepare ourselves fully and force the government to step down.”
Alongside waging street agitations, if the BNP-led 18-party alliance opts for taking extreme steps like resignation of the alliance MPs in the middle of October, this will complicate the situation further, political observers say.
If so, it will put additional pressure on the Election Commission since it will have to hold by-elections to those vacant seats at a time (within 90 days of their resignation) when it has to proceed with the holding of general election.
“This will create a chaotic situation,” jurist Shahdeen Malik told The Daily Star yesterday.
As per the present constitutional provision, the general election will be held any time between October 27 and January 24.
Asked about such a situation, jurist Anisul Islam Mahmud, also a presidium member of the Jatiya Party and a lawmaker, said, “It is a grey area. It needs interpretation of the constitution,” he told The Daily Star.
He, however, said in such a situation , the Speaker may take the same strategy as the then Speaker took between 1994 and 1995 to delay accepting the resignation letters of MPs belonging to the Awami League, Jatiya Party and Jamaat-e-Islami to avert by-elections.
A senior leader of the ruling AL, on condition of anonymity, said if such a situation crops up, one may go to the higher court challenging the en masse resignation.
Such an incident took place following the en masse resignation of opposition MPs in 1994, sparking a constitutional crisis.
Asked, AL leader Suranjit Sengupta, however, said there is no possibility of any constitutional crisis. “After the prime minister’s announcement [polls without dissolving the present parliament and the cabinet], the ball is now in BNP’s court. The BNP chief will have to say what more she wants to join the polls.”
He said the opposition parties will now have to think beyond their demand for restoration of the caretaker government system.
Senior leaders of the AL-led ruling alliance interpret the prime minister’s announcement as a strategy to put pressure on the BNP policymakers to sit for talks to resolve the crisis.
If both the parties reach any understanding on the polls-time government, they claim, the prime minister may advise the president to dissolve the House before the election.
The ruling alliance leaders believe there will be an understanding between the two rival camps and the BNP will join the general election.
BNP leaders, however, claimed the prime minister’s announcement has shut the door on a solution of the ongoing political standoff through talks.
But they hope the UN and international community’s ongoing efforts will force the government to relax its stance on the polls.
“We hope a solution will come from their efforts,” said BNP leader Mahbub.
Source: The Daily Star
