National Democratic Party (NDP), a component of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, yesterday issued a 72-hour ultimatum for BNP chief Khaleda Zia on a five point demand including greater practice of democracy within the alliance.
The ultimatum comes at a time when there are allegations from BNP that the ruling Awami League has been trying to create a rift in the alliance by luring some of the partners to break away.
From a press conference at a city hotel yesterday morning, Alamgir Majumdar, acting chairman of one of the factions of NDP, issued the ultimatum.
“The alliance leaders [Khaleda Zia] must make her stance clear about India. Many decisions are being made without consulting the alliance members. There is no real political programme that reflect people’s needs and aspirations. There must also be better scope of practicing democracy within the alliance. The BNP must also make its stance clear about religion-based politics,” Alamgir said.
He also warned that they would leave the 20-party cartel and form a new alliance if their demands were not met.
Later in the day, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir called an emergency meeting with the secretaries general of all the alliance members at the Nayapaltan office.
Emerging from the meeting, Fakrul claimed that there had been no misunderstanding among the allies.
Although the Alamgir Majumdar-led faction of NDP did not have any representation in that meeting, Khandakar Golam Mortuza, leader of another faction of the party, was present there.
Alamgir Majumdar has recently promoted himself to the post of acting chairman of NDP claiming to have removed Khandakar Golam Mortuza, the chairman of NDP.
During yesterday’s press conference, Alamgir said: “As per decisions made in the meetings of the party’s presidium council on September 12 and executive committee on September 19, he [Motuza] was relieved of all his duties. The step was taken because of his activities that conflicted with the party’s ideologies and democratic values.”
Seeking anonymity, a leader of the alliance told the Dhaka Tribune that the ruling party had contacted some of the frustrated partners of the 20-party combine. “Those partners are now thinking about leaving the alliance,” he said.
Another leader of the combine said around four to five partners, who were mainly Islamist parties, had already decided to leave the alliance to form a new cartel of their own.
“We have not got any benefit from the BNP-led alliance in last three years. The government is now fully settled in power. The alliance’s movement has also stopped. Most of the programmes called in the name of the alliance were actually meant for benefitting the BNP. That is why we will leave the alliance and form a new combine immediately,” the leader said.
Such breakaways are not new for the BNP-led alliance. On August 24, a faction of the National People’s Party, led by its chairman Sheikh Shawkat Hossain Nilu, left the alliance. After the January national election, National Awami Party-Bhashani (NAP), broke away from the combine.
Some leaders from those two parties were present at yesterday’s briefing. Moreover, Sekander Ali Moni and A Rashid Prodhan, chiefs of alliance partners Bangladesh Islamic Party and Labour Party respectively, were also present at the presser.
There are rumours that A Rashid Prodhan has also been thinking about breaking away from the alliance. The BNP-Jamaat-led alliance that used to comprise four parties, turned into an 18-party unit in April 2012. Later, it expanded to 20 parties after factions of the Jatiya Party and Samyabadi Dal joined in.
When contacted, BNP Standing Committee Member Lt Gen (retd) M Mahbubur Rahman told the Dhaka Tribune that Mirza Fakhrul had already discussed issues with the leaders of the alliance partners. He listened to their proposals and demands and assured them of announcing all future programmes in consultation with them.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance was formally launched on April 18, 2011 at the Diploma Engineers’ Institution in the capital.
Kazi Zafar-led Jatiya Party and a faction of Samyabadi Dal made the 18-party a 20-party alliance.
