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Surprise for BNP policymakers

Most of the bigwigs unaware of caretaker proposal, letter to Ashraf

Shakhawat Liton and Rashidul Hasan
Some of the BNP policymakers were seen whispering at Monday's press conference while the party chairperson was unveiling the proposal on formation of a non-partisan polls-time government.
They appeared clueless about the contents of the much-talked-about proposal.
"We were glancing at each other in surprise and enquiring whether any of us knew about the proposal's contents," a BNP standing committee member told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.
The opposition policymaker said he also talked to some other members over the phone about the issue later. None of them had any knowledge about the proposal's contents before attending the press conference at a city hotel.
Another standing committee member said he wouldn't even acknowledge that he had all along been kept in the dark about the proposal. "It will be a shame for me if I do that."
The Daily Star yesterday talked to six members of the 18-member committee, highest policymaking body of the party.
They all said the committee neither prepared nor finalised the proposal the party chief announced.
The BNP policymakers said they were not against the spirit of the proposal, but they felt embarrassed by the loopholes in the formula placed to counter the prime minister's offer to form an allparty polls-time government.
A group of pro-BNP former civil and military bureaucrats, academics and business leaders prepared the proposal and Khaleda's speech in consultation with some foreign diplomats, anti-terrorism experts and minority community leaders, said sources.
More surprise awaited the majority of the BNP standing committee members yesterday, as they learnt out of the blue that the acting secretary general had written to the AL urging it to initiate talks on Khaleda's proposal.
"I was watching television. I suddenly noticed a scroll on a TV channel over a letter for talks. I was confused whether the Awami League sent the letter to the BNP. Then I read very carefully and found that it was the BNP that sent the letter," said a standing committee member.
"Then I phoned some of my colleagues in the committee and asked about it. They said they too were completely unaware of the letter."
Even at its last meeting on Saturday, the committee didn't discuss the issue of sending any letter to the AL for holding talks, said the BNP policymaker.
In her proposal, Khaleda suggested forming a non-partisan election-time government headed by a respected citizen to be chosen by consensus between the ruling and opposition parties.
She proposed that the AL and the BNP nominate five advisers each from among the former advisers of the 1996 and 2001 caretaker governments.
The two caretaker governments had 10 advisers each. But two of the advisers served both the governments. Of the 18 individu-
als in the two advisory councils, four have passed away, a few are suffering from old-age complications, and some are unwilling to take the responsibility again.
Wishing anonymity, another committee member said, "The party could have avoided embarrassment had it allowed us to discuss the proposal at the committee meeting. We know almost all the individuals who served as advisers in the two caretaker governments."
At its last meeting on Saturday, the standing committee only discussed the proposal for picking a non-partisan person as the head of the election-time government by consensus.
It also agreed to propose a search committee for picking a respected person to head the interim government. This proposal was also discussed and endorsed when top leaders of the BNP-led alliance met the following day, said sources.
But the proposal for the search committee was not included in the formula that Khaleda announced at Monday’s press conference.
A top business leader, who helped prepare Khaleda's speech, said the party made pledges to fight militancy to allay concern of the West and India that Islamist militancy and trans-border terrorism would be encouraged if the BNP comes to power.
"We put emphasis on the issue on advice of some foreign diplomat friends," said the business leader.
Through Khaleda's speech, the BNP also gave a message that "those who were involved in ousting the BNP chief from her cantonment residence and torturing her elder son Tarique Rahman would not be victimised ifBNPis voted in".
Former military bureaucrats had drafted this part of Khaleda's speech, said the business leader.