Jatiya Party Secretary General Md Mujibul Haque Chunnu has said the party hold a meeting with the ruling Awami League, asserting that JaPa will contest the upcoming general election with its plough symbol instead of being under any alliance.
Chunnu was responding to reporters when asked about seat sharing in the election, at the JaPa chairman’s office in Banani, Dhaka, on Wednesday.
“Any understandings reached might be non-verbal as well; there is nothing to say about that separately. The Awami League wants to talk with the Jatiya Party even if there is no proposal on seat sharing.”
It has not been decided yet who will attend the meeting representing the Jatiya Party–the chairman, co-chairman or the secretary general, Chunnu said, adding that the venue of the meeting has not been decided yet either.
Notably, in 2008, the Jatiya Party contested the election as a partner of the Awami League grand alliance.
In 2014, the Jatiya Party was no longer in any alliance as the BNP-Jamaat coalition boycotted the 10th parliamentary election. However, the Jatiya Party won the 34 seats where the Awami League filed any candidates.
In the next election in 2018, the Jatiya Party got 26 seats from the Awami League but was only elected from 23.
For the election slated for January 7, the Awami League has announced its candidates for 298 seats and the Jatiya Party for 287 seats. But so far there has been no talk about sharing any seats.