For the first time since 1996 the leader of the opposition yesterday attended the meeting of the business advisory committee considered to be the highest legislative body that determines the businesses of the House.
Raushan Ershad, the leader of the opposition, attended the first meeting of the business advisory committee which decided to run the first meeting of the 10th parliament up to April 3.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury presided over the meeting in the cabinet committee room at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Deputy Leader of the house Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Chief Whip ASM Feroz, Law Minister Anisul Haque and Mayeen Uddin Khan Badal are the members of the 15-member committee.
Since the 7th parliament was formed in 1996 none, who led the opposition in parliament, had attended the meeting of the business advisory committee.
Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia swapped the posts of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition up to the ninth parliament that ended in January 2014.
Apparently owing to bitter relation between the two leaders, Khaleda Zia did not attend any of the 23 meetings of the committee. She used to send MK Anwar as her representative to the meeting.
In the 8th parliament (2001-06) then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina skipped all 23 meetings of the business advisory committee, according to the records of the parliament secretariat.
She too sometimes sent her representatives to the meeting.
Khaleda Zia avoided all 19 meetings of the committee of the 9th parliament. She hardly sent her representatives to the committee meetings.
“At least, we got the opposition leader at the business advisory committee,” the prime minister told the committee.
The meeting decided that the House would have 45 hours of discussion on the president’s parliamentary address.
