He thanked the military-backed interim administration for initiatives to rid politics and parliament of the evil elements.

"It would never do the nation any good if the evildoers are elected to parliament. They only cater to self-interest and poison politics," Jalil told reporters at his Mercantile Bank office.

Queried if his party would decide not to nominate the corrupt suspects, black money holders and patronisers of criminals for the next election, the AL leader said "If we expel them, the others will shelter them, and in that case, my party will wind up being on the losing side. So, all political parties need to arrive at a consensus on the issue."

An effective legislation can free the political parties of perverting forces, he noted adding that the politics should be controlled by no one but the politicians.

Jalil said they have always been in favour of reforms and that is why they had placed a 31-point reform proposal. "We had long been calling for an independent and strong Election Commission (EC)," he added.

The AL leader called on the interim government to lift the ban on political activities especially indoor politics so they could begin the work on reforms and help the EC carry out electoral reforms.

He also urged it to hand over power to an elected government after a free and fair election as soon as possible.

Asked about reform of the political parties, he said the AL has grown to be the largest political party through reforms since its founding. "If further reforms are necessary to keep pace with the changing times, we will of course discuss the issue at the party forum once the ban on indoor politics is gone," he observed.

"But there would be no reforms without Sheikh Hasina," Jalil said adding, "The party leaders and workers are emotionally attached to her as they see in her the reflection of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. No one in the party could think of a leadership minus her."

"Hasina never wanted to be the Awami League president. It was rather the leaders of the organisation who elected her as its chief in 1981. Before that, the party was split in four factions. So she is the symbol of unity. Those who believe in the ideals of Bangabandhu just cannot think of Awami League without Hasina."

Jalil welcomed the EC's decision to task the armed forces with preparing the voter roll. Describing the military personnel as the sons of this soil, he said, "There's nothing wrong with them doing the work."

On intra-party democracy, the AL general secretary said, "No other party but Awami League practises democracy within it."

He said when a whole lot of discussions are on about party reforms and democracy, Khaleda Zia's brother Sayeed Iskander's being a vice-chairman of the BNP has dealt a severe blow to the spirit of reforms. It only exposed that "the party is very much in dynastic politics".

Referring to former finance minister M Saifur Rahman's remark that it was a mistake to accept President Iajuddin Ahmed as the chief adviser, Jalil said the realisation has come very late. "Like him, many others [of BNP] will now understand their mistakes and see the logic behind our demand," he said.