BNP likely to attend AL council

BNP is likely to attend Awami League’s council tomorrow, a BNP leader hinted today.

“You [AL] didn’t attend our council. You didn’t even say sorry over telephone as part of courtesy for not coming to our council. But we are not narrow minded like you and you will get proof on the council day that BNP is a moderate and democratic political party,” BNP leader Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal said.

The BNP joint secretary general was speaking at a memorial programme at city’s Jatiya Press Club.

Jatiyatabadi Bondhu Dal organised the programme in memory of the demise of BNP standing committee member Hannan Shah who died on September 27 at a Singapore Hospital.   

Earlier on Thursday, ruling Awami League invited BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to its 20th council scheduled to be held on October 22-23 in Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan.

A delegation of the Awami League led by Deputy Office Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das went to the BNP’s Nayapaltan central office around 11:00am and handed over two separate letters to Fakhrul.

Fakhrul accepted the letters, Mrinal Kanti Das told The Daily Star.

Later, in a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan office, Fakhrul told journalists that they will decide over attending Awami League’s council at a meeting in the party’s forum.

“We are happy that they invited us. We too invited them in our council, but they didn’t come”, said Fakhrul.