The ruling Awami League has decided not to join the iftar party to be hosted by the main opposition BNP on Saturday, a day after it had decided to send a five-member delegation to the event.
Confirming the news, AL Presidium member Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin said: “It was a unanimous decision [not joining the event] of the party.”
He, however, declined to make any comment why the party had made a sudden U-turn at the last moment.
On Friday, Lenin had told the Dhaka Tribune that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam to attend the BNP’s iftar party at LD Hall of Jatiya Sangsad when he went to meet her at her official residence Gano Bhaban.
Apart from Syed Ashraf, Presidium members Zohora Tajuddin, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Matia Chowdhury, Abdul Latif Siddique, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mohammad Nasim, Kazi Zafarullah, Satish Chandra Ray, Shahara Khatun, Obaidul Quader and Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin were invited to the iftar.
Although the two major political parties have invited each other to iftar parties in the last four years, neither party previously gave any positive response.
The two parties have been in a standoff centring the poll time interim government: the ruling Awami League wants to hold election as per the constitution while the BNP wants the polls to be held under a non-partisan interim government.
A delegation led by BNP Assistant Office Secretary Abdul Latif Jony handed over the invitation card to Awami League Deputy Office Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das at the party’s Dhanmondi office on Friday.
