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AL agrees to talks with Oikyafront

Dialogue likely on Thursday

Staff Correspondent
Jatiya Oikyafront leaders would be invited to dinner on Thursday at the Gono Bhaban for talks with the ruling Awami League, said sources.
AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader has called Oikyafront leader Mostafa Mohsin Montu and requested names of the alliance delegates, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, convener of Nagorik Oikya, a component of the Oikyafront, toldlhe Daily Star.
Sources in the Oikyafront said Quader wanted 10 names, but Montu requested him to allow 14.
Manna said the Oikyafront leaders would sit at Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain's office in Motijheel at 3:00pm today to finalise the names.
Sources claimed the Prime Minister's Office would send an official invitation to the Oikyafront leaders today.
The prime minister has even asked an AL
leader to call an Oikyafront leader and know what they would like to have for dinner, AL insiders said.
The AL move comes a day after Dr Kamal wrote to Hasina, urging her to take an initiative for talks between the alliance and the ruling party.
During an unscheduled discussion at yesterday's cabinet meeting, Hasina informed her colleagues that she would indeed sit with Oikyafront leaders.
Sources said a couple of ministers at the meeting opposed the dialogue move. The ministers said for a long time they had been against talks with the BNP and that the Oikyafront was nothing but a BNP-driven alliance.
The ministers said the BNP had been "proven at the court a party of criminals" and that it would not be prudent to sit with it, the sources added.
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A minister who was present at the meeting told The Daily Star that Hasina said she would invite the Oikyafront for a dialogue since the alliance formally wrote to her for initiating talks.
"I don't want to shut the door on talks," she was quoted by the minister assaying.
Several AL leaders over the last few months had been rejecting any possibility of a dialogue with the BNP.
"Jatiya Oikyafront wants to sit with Bangladesh Awami League. I, on behalf of our leader and party supreme leader Desh Ratna Sheikh Hasina, would like to say her door doesn't remain shut for anyone ... Our leader and Bangabandhu's daughter has agreed to Oikyafront's proposal for talks,” said Quader at a press conference at Hasina's Dhanmondi office after the cabinet meeting, reports UNB.
Oikyafront also welcomed the prime minister's initiative.
"Yesterday [Sunday] we had urged the prime minister to hold talks. Today [yesterday] we came to know that she has responded to our call. We welcome
her initiative," Moudud Ahmed, BNP's standing committee member, told journalists after a meeting of the alliance at his Motijheel office.
Dr Kamal in his Sunday's letter said, "The Jatiya Oikyafront feels the urge for a meaningful dialogue with the Awami League for a competitive election with participation of all in a peaceful and congenial atmosphere and looks forward to your [Hasina's] effective initiative."
The Oikyafront was formed on October 13 comprising the BNP, Gonoforum, Nagorik Oikya, and JSD (Rab). It made seven demands including the resignation of the government, dissolution of parliament, formation of a polls-time government, reconstitution of the Election Commission, and deployment of the army with magistracy power before the polls.
It also issued 11 goals, including bringing a balance of power between the president and the prime minister, amending article 70 of the constitution, appointing judges in a transparent manner, ensuring independence of the judiciary, and de-politicising the administration and the police.