& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Opposition plans stepped-up agitation from mid-Nov

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The opposition parties will step up the agitation for reforms in the caretaker government and the Election Commission and at the same time, gear up campaign for the next election from mid November.
The main opposition Awami League (AL), left 11-party alliance, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu) and National Awami Party (NAP) are now working towards devising a common minimum national programme which will be the basis of their election manifesto.
The programme will be announced at the first-ever joint rally
of the top opposition leaders on November 15. AL President Sheikh Hasina and leaders of the other components will address the rally at city's Paltan Maidan.
Fresh programmes to intensify the anti-government movement will be announced from the same rally.
Political observers believe that the opposition movement may take a new turn after the November 15 rally where the opposition combine may also declare that they will not take part in the next election without reforms in the caretaker government and the electoral systems.
The AL and its allies, now working to ensure huge participation in the rally, expect that over 10 lakh people will turn up at the gathering.
Meanwhile, a steering committee comprising senior leaders of the opposition alliance has already been formed to formulate the common national agenda.
Workers Party of Bangladesh President Rashed Khan Menon said the common programme will be adopted for the overall development of the country and betterment of the people.
He said it will be based on the nine-point charter of demands announced on November 18 last year by the opposition parties. “We will elaborate the nine points,” he added.
Acting general secretary of AL Obaidul Quader yesterday told The Daily Star that the process of formulating the programme is on. “We will soon give the government an ultimatum to meet our demands for electoral reforms and stop its misdeeds,” he said.
“The party is also considering resigning from parliament at an appropriate stage in the antigovernment movement,” the AL leader added.
“We are preparing the programme to inform the people of our plan for the country's overall development,” Hasanul Haq Inu, president of the JSD, told The Daily Star.
He said the top leaders will make commitments in public that they will carry out the programme if the countrymen vote them in.
The opposition combine's common programme will focus on some preferential sectors including education, health, industry, commerce, manpower and employment, mineral resources, social security, information technology and women and child affairs.
Besides, it will incorporate the commitment to ensure trial of the war criminals and force them off the administration and the political stage.
There will be directions also about ways to curb corruption and arrest the spiralling prices of essentials.
The opposition leaders will commit themselves to reopening the staterun mills and factories and creating new jobs for the youth. Reducing the prices of agricultural inputs, implementing the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) accord and ensuring safety of the religious and ethnic minorities will figure prominently in the programme.
After the announcement, the opposition parties will go on crosscountry tours to mobilise popular support in favour of the programme, sources said.
The opposition combine has also been considering forming a liaison committee to make policy-decisions on the planned united movement and participation in the next national polls.
The liaison committee will also make suggestions regarding the election manifesto, election strategies and formula to share constituencies among the allies.