The incumbent ministers will soon resign to pave the way for the formation of a polls-time interim government, said Awami League Advisory Committee member Suranjit Sengupta on Saturday.
“Members of the cabinet will submit their resignation letters to the prime minister soon. Then she [Sheikh Hasina] will form the interim government cabinet,” he said while addressing a discussion to mark the historic Jail Killing Day at Shilpakala Academy in the capital.
Suranjit said after the submission of resignation letters, a small size polls-time government would be formed to oversee the next general elections. “It will be an all-party government and will only supervise the election,” he said.
Expressing hope that the Election Commission would announce the polls schedule soon, Suranjit said the party’s election-related activities, including the selling of nomination papers, would begin after the next cabinet meeting.
Pointing his finger at the leader of the opposition, the minister said: “Give us names who might be the members of the all-party polls-time government. Talks can take place on whether you [Khaleda Zia] need any important ministry.”
He also urged the BNP chief to withdraw the hartal for the sake of dialogue, as “dialogue and movements cannot occur simultaneously.”
On the other hand, AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said the opposition leader should respond to the prime minister’s invitation soon since a participatory election is much more important than hartals.
“I am not worried about hartals. The fundamentals of politics are important to us. The main issue before us is a free, fair, credible and inclusive election,” he said at Osmani Memorial Auditorium.
“The honourable prime minister invited her [Khaleda] and we are waiting for her,” he said, adding that the door for dialogue was always open and that the hartal was not a barrier to holding the dialogue.
Responding to another query, Ashraf said: “The next government will assume office in January.”
Ashraf, also the LGRD minister, said confrontation and violence could not bring any solution.
“Crises were resolved earlier through talks, and in the present, it is possible to resolve the crisis through talks too,” he said.
