The Business Advisory Committee of parliament meets on Wednesday to extend the ongoing session of the Jatiya Sangsad amid the possibility of a dialogue between the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP, which demands immediate dissolution of parliament.
The committee headed by Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is set to meet at 3:30pm at the parliament building before the Jatiya Sangsad resumes its sitting at 4:30pm after a 10-day recess.
Chief Whip Abdus Shahid told the Dhaka Tribune that the session would be extended as the House had many important bills to pass. “There are a few unfinished businesses, too.”
The prime minister, the opposition leader, deputy leader of the House, the deputy speaker, Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad, the chief whip and a few other senior MPs from major parties are the members of the Business Advisory Committee, which determines everything related to a parliament session, including its tenure.
On September 12, the committee had decided to hold the current 19th session of parliament until October 24, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivering her wrap-up speech making her government’s position on the upcoming parliamentary polls clear.
But the treasury bench later shifted from its decision and announced to stretch the session.
The main opposition BNP and its allies – Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Jatiya Party – have not attended the ongoing session yet and it is not clear whether they will continue the boycott or join the session ahead of the parliamentary polls.
According to the order of the day, the House is set to see two new bills on Wednesday: Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan will table the Payra Port Authority Bill 2013, which, if passed, will set up a body to run the proposed third seaport in Rabnabad, Patuakhali; and Social Welfare Minister Enamul Haque Mostofa Shahid will initiate a new law on the protection of neurodevelopmental handicapped people.
The House is also set to pass the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University Bangladesh Bill and the Overseas Employment and Immigration Bill.