BNP ally Kallyan Party to contest elections under new coalition

It forms a new coalition with the Bangladesh Muslim League and the Bangladesh Jatiya Party

Bangladesh Kallyan Party, which has been staging antigovernment protests with the BNP for an election-time caretaker administration, has decided to contest in the parliamentary polls.

Its Chairman Syed Muhammad Ibrahim announced at a press conference in Dhaka on Wednesday that they had left the 12-Party Alliance and will take part in the election under a new platform, the Jukto Front, with the Bangladesh Muslim League and the Bangladesh Jatiya Party.

Bangladesh Muslim League President Sheikh Zulfiker Bulbul Chowdhury and Bangladesh Jatiya Party’s Executive Chairman Sirajul Islam were also present.

Ibrahim, a former army officer, said they decided to join the race to make the election “acceptable” despite the risks of being tagged as a “black sheep” or rogue.

He admitted the party’s “political inability to succeed in protests against the Awami League government”, which he realised after the Oct 28 rallies by the BNP and its allies.

“I’ve taken an alternative path to speak my mind, God willing, in parliament,” he said.

The protests on Oct 28 turned violent with deadly clashes between opposition demonstrators and the police.

Since then, the BNP has been enforcing transport blockades and hartals, or shutdowns, marked by arson attacks targeting vehicles.

The government has responded to the protests with a crackdown on opposition leaders and activists, hundreds of whom, including prominent figures, have been arrested in violence-related cases.

Ibrahim also urged the Awami League and the BNP to sit for talks, and asked for the international community’s help to organise a dialogue.

Formed during the emergency in 2007, the Kallyan Party had been in the 20-Party Alliance led by the BNP. It later joined the 12-Party Alliance.

Ibrahim said the newly formed Jukto Front has the preparations to field candidates for 100 of the 300 parliamentary seats in the election scheduled for Jan 7.

After he spoke at the press conference, BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged in a statement that the ruling party is intimidating opposition parties or trying to lure them into the election.

“Bargainings like the ones at cattle markets are ongoing to bring leaders from different parties to the King’s Party of the Awami League. Many patriotic leaders are being pressured,” said the senior joint secretary general of the BNP.

Asked for his comments about the allegations raised by the BNP, Information Minister and Awami League Joint General Secretary Hasan Mahmud denied at an event at the Secretariat that the ruling party was pressuring anyone.

“Even many BNP leaders would have come had we created pressure,” he remarked.