Surprise for BNP policymakers

Surprise

Surprise for BNP policymakers
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 all-party 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.

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