Prime .Minister.. Begum _ Khaleda Zia is likely .fo wr(|e ‘ a letter to Awaml ^League chief Sheikh Hasina before the Opposition-called four-day hartal scheduled to begin on October 16, sources in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said.

In the letter, the Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson is expected to request the AL chief to settle political disputes across the table, the sources hinted.

Another source close to Begum Zia said the letter could be sent before her departure for the United States on October 20. She is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly session In New York.

• • The issue of the letter eanie up at a meeting between Begum Zia and her party stalwarts including acting Secretary General and Food and Agriculture Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Information and Commerce Minister Shamsul Islam and Communications Minister Oli Ahmed Sunday night.

When asked whether the Prime Minister has decided to send a letter to Sheikh Hasina. the Information Minister told The Daily Star. "I shall neither confirm, nor deny.”

He. however, told a group of newsmen at his Secretariat office yesterday "Whatever the BNP decided would be made public within the next four to five days."

He also said the meeting reviewed the overall political situation in the country.

Meanwhile, Mannan Bhuiyan told newsmen yesterday that the prime concern of the Prime Minister these days was tackling the flood situation. "Presently she is busy dealing with the devastating flood in the northern region of the country." he added.

Bhuiyan made the state-MSwa ets of Dhaka district yesterday afternoon.

When requested to say something on the media speculation on a letter from the Prime Minister. Bhuiyan said, "The Premier will take a decision about it."

The acting Secretary General of the BNP. however, emphatically said the party would not concede to any unconstitutional demand. "The Prime Minister and her entire cabinet is oath bound to uphold the Constitution," he said, adding. "We are ready to accept any kind of interim government to conduct the next general elections. But whatever is done will have to be within the ambit of the Constitution."

Bhuiyan said it was enough that the Prime Minister had made an offer to step down

30 days before the elections.

Replaying to a question, he also said the BNP would politically face the Opposition's politics of hartal.

UNB adds: The ruling party's acting Secretary General said yesterday Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia would take the lead to break the present political stalemate but "She is very busy now dealing with flood."

The Prime Minister will decide when and how she will take the initiative... Her (PM) only concern now is abput.tfre flood-stricken peo-pl«,“. Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told reporters after a meeting with BNP MPs of Dhaka city.