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Outages, crime spiral upset AL, allies

Staff Correspondent
Leaders of the ruling Awami League (AL)-led 14-party combine yesterday expressed their resentment over the deterioration of law and order, fall in prices of jute and rice, and load shedding situation in the country
At a meeting of the combine, they also criticised the role of Towfique-e-Elahi Chowdhury, power and energy adviser to
the prime minister, in the power sector.
The meeting held at the party president's Dhanmondi political office decided to hold the next meeting of the combine in the presence of the ministers for power, agriculture, food and finance. Starting at 11:30am, yesterday's meeting lasted for two hours.
Leaders of the 14-party, notably Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Abdul Jalil,
Outages
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Suranjit Sengupta, Rashed Khan Menon, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Enamul Haque, Sharif Nurul Ambia and Asit Baran Roy attended the meeting, chaired by combine Coordinator Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.
The leaders proposed not to increase the price of fertiliser against the backdrop of a decreasing trend in the prices of rice and jute, meeting sources told The Daily Star. They also expressed serious resentment over the rise in killings, disappearances and criminal activities in the country.
They decided to sit on the last Tuesday of every month to discuss the overall situation in the country.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said the government would sit for a dialogue over an interim government, not the caretaker one, "if the main opposition BNP places specific and logical proposals to hold the next general election in a free and fair manner”.
“Discussions must be held in a democratic system and the door [for discussion] is open,” he said.
At the meeting, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon suggested preparing a framework of an interim government on behalf of the combine. He also proposed initiating a dialogue with the opposition after completing the combine's plan, meeting sources toldThe Daily Star.
In response to Menon's proposal, AL leaders present at the meeting said a discus-sionontheproposalwouldbe held along with the prime minister.
Menon told reporters that there was no scope to go back to the caretaker government system. “If the opposition has any proposal on the interim government, it can place it and a discussion can be held based on the proposal.”
He said the AL wanted all parties to take part in the next elections.
Referring to the amendment to the constitution in line with the Supreme Court verdict that scrapped the caretaker government system, Ashraf, also LGRD minister, said there was no alternative to parliament but to implement the judgment.
“The democratic system cannot be sustained if the Supreme Court judgment is overlooked," he said, adding that elections in Bangladesh would be held following the examples in other democratic countries of the world.
The ruling party spokesperson also said the AL-led grand alliance would take part in the next election altogether as it did in the 2008 election.
Meanwhile, leaders of the 11-party, components of the 14-party combine, yesterday urged the government to make a concrete framework of an interim government and resolve the ongoing political impasse with the opposition through an immediate dialogue.
The urge came from a meeting of the 11 parties at the Workers' Party office with President of Gano Azadi League Abdus Samad in the chair.