Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The ruling Awami League (AL) and its alliance partners are facing a tough test of their relationship in the seat-sharing formula for the upcoming national polls.
The issue remained unresolved till Saturday though AL held marathon meeting with its allies over the issue.
On the day, AL held talks with Jatiya Party (JaPa) led by its its Secretary General Ruhul Amin Hawlader, Hasanul Haq Inu-led JaSaD faction and Workers’ Party of Bangladesh led by Rashed Khan Menon.
“At best, we can offer 70 seats to the alliance partners, nothing more,” AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader told reporters the meeting at the party’s Bangabandhu Avenue headquarters in Dhaka.
He said that AL has reached a ‘respectful agreement’ with alliance partners in this regard and an announcement is on the cards.
But informed sources said serious problem remains in seat sharing as parties in AL-led grand alliance are burgeoning hard to raise their stakes.
“We have failed to reach a deal over seat sharing. The talks are still on,” a central AL leader told The New Nation yesterday on condition of anonymity.
He said the issue is expected to be settled in a day or two as partners on track with their tie-ups.
“Seat sharing with alliance partners in the AL-led grand alliance was in the finance stage and it would be announced soon. We hope the seat-sharing plan will be acceptable to all,” AL’s presidium member Faruk Khan told The New Nation yesterday.
He said AL would only share seats to the ‘winnable’ candidates of the allies.
“We have finalized seat sharing talks with AL. The party high-ups assured us to provide a respectable share,” JaPa Secretary General Ruhul Amin Howladar told The New Nation yesterday.
When asked, he said, the alliance is working very well and there are no problems in sharing seats.
Sources said that AL high-ups might finally trim trip down the number of seats to 55 or 60 from 70 to accommodate BNP leaders who are preparing to join AL before the polls.
“Ten seats may be distributed to the BNP renegades who will change sides politically before elections,” an anonymous AL source told The New Nation yesterday.
Obaidul Quader earlier said a significant number of BNP leaders and activists are waiting anxiously for an opportunity to join the AL.
“The phenomenon of ‘Horse trading’ (changing sides politically) is quite common during parliamentary elections. This is not a new scenario,” he said.
Informed sources said, AL high-ups is consideration leave 31 seats to JaPa, 12 to the 14 party allies, eight to Jukta Front and five the religion-based parties.
