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4-party polls-time cabinet today

JP stays in govt; BNP left with agitation only; PM meets president; new ministers' oath today

Staff Correspondent
A one-sided election without the BNP and its allies now looks more of a reality, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to form the polls-time cabinet today, picking its new members from among her party-led grand alliance.
Hasina met President Abdul Hamid at the Bangabhaban yesterday evening, and handed him the resignation letters of the ministers and state ministers, who will be left out of the interim cabinet.
The president will appoint the new cabinet members on the
PM's advice and administer the oath today.
The cabinet is likely to be moderately big with 30 members, not a small one as suggested by the PM and her party leaders on
several occasions.
Meanwhile, terming the polls-time government farcical, acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir strongly EROM PAGE 1
opposed the government decision.
He was speaking at a press conference at the BNP chiefs Gulshan office last night.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance would continue its ongoing movement to force the government to hold the election under a non-partisan government, said the BNP leader.
The developments come amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts to resolve the current political impasse over election-time government.
US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal is in the capital on a three-day tour to bring the two rival camps to the negotiating table for a participatory national election expected to be held by January 24.
Following a meeting with Biswal in the afternoon, Hasina went to the Bangabhaban and gave the president the resignation letters the ministers and state ministers had submitted to her a week ago.
A couple of hours after the PM met the president, Biswal held talks with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on the ongoing crisis.
The ongoing crisis is likely to deepen further, as the BNP-led opposition has refused to join the interim cabinet. The opposition sticks to its demand for a non-party interim government and has vowed to resist any election under a Hasina-led government.
The PM has picked the new cabinet members from the ruling Awami League and its three allies -- the Jatiya Party, the Workers Party and the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, according to sources in the government and the ruling parties.
The cabinet will not take an "all-party" look, as the BNP and its allies - the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Bangladesh Jatiya Party - have decided to stay away from the polls-time government.
The new cabinet members include AL lawmakers Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed, Workers Party lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon, and Jatiya Party lawmakers Anisul Islam Mahmud, Ruhul Amin Hawlader, Rawshan Ershad, Ziauddin Bablu, Mujibul I laque Chunnu and Salma Islam, said the sources.
Incumbent ministers, including AMA Muhith, Matia Chowdhury, Syed Ashraful Islam, Abdul Latif Siddique, AK Khandker, Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Abul Kalam Azad, Ramesh Chandra Sen, Obaidul Quader, Faruk Khan, Abdur Razzaque, Hasanul Haq Inu, Dipu Moni, Nurul Islam Nahid, Ghulam Muhammed Quader, Shajahan Khan, Hasan Mahmud and Mujibul Hoque would continue with their offices, as the PM didn't submit their resignation letters to the president, according to
the sources.
The Jatiya Party delayed the formation of the polls-time cabinet, as it declined to accept the AL's offer of three posts in the cabinet.
The JP kept pressing for more posts and the ruling party finally conceded to its demand, said sources in the AL.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Workers Party chief Menon said the cabinet secretary phoned him last night and requested him to prepare for taking oath.
JP Presidium member Ziauddin Bablu said, "Apart from me, five leaders of my party have received phone calls from the Cabinet Division forswearing in."
He mentioned the names of JP leaders Anisul Islam, Hawlader, Rawshan Ershad, Mujibul Haque and Salma Islam.
Political analysts say the government's latest decision will shut the door on negotiations for resolving the crisis and worsen the political situation further in the coming days.
"It will not contribute to solving the political crisis. It is a political decision that has been made in the interest of the ruling party," said Akbar Ali Khan, former adviser to a caretaker government.
Sultana Kamal, another ex-adviser to a caretaker government, expressed doubt about the interim government's success.
"The BNP will oppose this government. The party has rejected the formula of all-party government. I cannot be hopeful that this all-party government will be effective," she said.
The BNP-led alliance has refrained from enforcing hartal so far this week due to Biswal's visit, hoping for a progress in breaking the political stalemate.
Following the latest development, the BNP may enforce hartal from tomorrow and intensify its agitation once the Election Commission announces the election schedule, said BNP insiders.
BNP standing committee members Mahbubur Rahman and ASM Hannan Shah said the PM's latest move left the opposition with no option but to intensify street agitation.
The move would deepen the political crisis, and the opposition would enforce programmes like hartal and blockade to prevent the government from holding a one-sided election, they said.
EC officials will meet the president at the Bangabhaban tomorrow and inform him about the commission's preparations for holding the election by January' 24.
The commission may announce the election schedule by the end of this month, said sources in the EC.