At the fourth-round negotiations today, Awami League (AL) will seek the ruling BNP’s view on former chief justice Mahmudul Amin Chowdhury as a replacement for Justice KM Hasan to head the next caretakergovernment.

Sources said AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil during the third-day's talks with BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan on Sunday proposed that Justice Mahmudul could be appointed to the post of chief adviser.

He also argued that appointing him (Mahmudul) would be well within the ambit of the constitution and there would be no legal bar to doing so.

Sources in the BNP said on principle the party does not have any reservations about Mahmudul as the chief adviser but they might the issue as a matter of ego.

If the government side has to replace Hasan in the interest of breaking the impasse, then it will have to make the former chief justice feel embarrassed to take over as die chief adviser, sources said.

Besides, the ruling party in that case will have to look for ways that would spare it the public impression that it has been defeated to the opposition at the talks.

It will also have to decide whether they would take the responsibility to make Hasan decline thepost.

Sources said Bhuiyan has

already talked to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in this regard. The BNP secretary general, who earlier took time from Jalil, will let his opposition counterpart know today the ruling side's position on the demand for replacing Hasan.

The fourth day's dialogue will deal mainly with the interpretations of different constitutional provisions and legal barriers that might arise out of appointment of a person acceptable to all parties as the chief adviser, said sources.

Meanwhile, senior BNP leaders including Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman met at Bhuiyan's residence last night to discuss from constitutional point of view the prospective replacement of Justice Ilasan.

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replacement of Justice Hasan.

The prime minister sat with the cabinet members at her office yesterday. But Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed told reporters that at the meeting they did not discuss the reform proposals.

He said he has found as many as 51 demands in the opposition's reform proposals and of those, 44 could be settled through discussion. The law minister said the remaining issues could be settled later through discussion.

Meanwhile, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at a rally in Chandpur district said the chief adviser to the caretaker government would be made as per the constitution. Referring to the opposition's threat to paralyse the capital if Hasan takes over, Khaleda said, "We want to see who creates chaos in the country."

Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina at a view-exchange meeting yesterday with city leaders alleged that the government has been conspiring to foil the ongoing dialogue over electoral reforms.

Earlier, Hasina met the party's secretaries at her Dhanmondi office to discuss the possible movements if the government does not carry out the electoral reforms.

Meanwhile, Samillita Nagorik Andolon, a platform of citizens, met senior AL leaders last night at the party's Dhanmondi office and expressed solidarity with the opposition's campaign for reforms.