Ruling Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam's announcement of a dialogue with the main opposition BNP on next parliamentary elections has brought a ray of hope against the possible political crisis in 2013.

The announcement made yesterday, the last day of 2012, appears as a major breakthrough given the prevailing political situation in which the ruling AL and main opposition BNP are at a loggerhead over the mode of an election-time government.

Talking to reporters at his Secretariat office, Ashraf, also LGRD minister, said the talks would start soon upon positive response from BNP. "Informal talks are taking place with opposition parties. What we need now is to sit formally,” he said.

The AL leader said, “The sooner the talks take place and an arrangement is reached, the better it will be for the country and democracy.” He hoped all uncertainty would go away through the dialogue and the next election would be held with participation of all political parties.

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury agrees with Ashrafs views. She said, "We meet and talk frequendy with opposition leaders in various social and family programmes.”

However, the BNP and

Anwar Hossain Manjufaction of Jatiya Party have doubts about the outcome of the talks.

“The dialogue will not be fruitful if there is no specific agenda over the caretaker government issue,” said BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, adding that formal proposal needed to come from the government first.

Another standing committee member of the party Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, however, welcomed Ashraf's announcement.

“We are also looking for a dialogue, but the government will have to be sincere and shift from its rigid stance against the caretaker government system," he said.

Anwar Hossain Manju said if the AL and BNP were

not flexible on their positions, there would be no positive outcome of the dialogue.

“If you [AL, BNP] can't move an inch from your current position, don't spend time and taxpayers' money on tea and snacks in the name of dialogue,” said Manju, also editor of the country's one of the oldest Bangla daily Ittefaq. He also described Ashraf's views as “a devil in disguise”.

Welcoming Ashraf's announcement, M Hafizuddin Khan, former adviser to a caretaker government, said: "It's of course good news for the New Year. We hope the BNP will also come forward with an open mind to break the political standoff."

He said people are worried and tense about a possible political turmoil

in 2013 cantering the next parliamentary elections.

The cancellation of the caretaker government system by the AL-led government in June 2011 put the AL and BNP-led electoral alliances in a loggerhead situation. While AL remains rigid on its stance against the restoration of the caretaker government system, the BNP vowed to boycott and resist the next parliamentary election if it is not held under a nonpartisan government.

Urging both sides to be sincere in the talks, Hafizuddin recalled the emergence of the last mili-tary-backed caretaker government, which was the result of a failed talks of October 2006 between then ruling BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and opposition AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil.