A formal announcement will come after a few more meetings of the BNP Standing Committee and the party-led four-party alliance.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the alliance with BNP chairperson
Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
in the chair at her Gulshan office.
They also discussed a possible name for the new alliance and later empowered the leader of the opposition to finalise the matter.
"The alliance will be expanded but the announcement will come after two more meetings. Discussion is needed with those who will be included in the alliance," Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP acting secretary general, said after the meeting that started at 9:30pm yesterday.
Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) Chairman Andaleeve Rahman Partha said the new alliance would be the largest one in the country's political arena.
"We have placed a number of names for the new alliance. Khaleda Zia will fix it in consultation with her party's standing committee members."
Meeting sources said the new alliance would be something like the ruling Awami League-led grand alliance.
"The ruling grand alliance was formed keeping the Awami League led-14 party alliance intact, and hopefully we will form an alliance keeping the BNP-led four-party alliance untouched," said a leader who did not wish to be named.
Sources also said the Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
and BJP opposed the idea of an expansion of the alliance. They want to form a new alliance keeping the four-party alliance as it is.
But talking to news hounds, Foyez Ullah, Islami Oikya Jote
... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support...
joint secretary general, said the four-party alliance would be dissolved. "The new alliance will be formed based on the four-party alliance."