JS seating no more an issue

Speaker Abdul Hamid will take a fresh initiative to bring the opposition BNP back to parliament that goes into its first session next year on January 4.
The speaker told a press briefing on Monday that he would request the prime minister to allocate one more front-row seat to BNP lawmakers if they return to the House.
Talking to The Daily Star at his office yesterday, Hamid said, "I will contact the opposition chief whip soon and ask him to convey my message to the leader of the opposition (Khaleda Zia), and let me know her decision."
But Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque said yesterday, "Seating arrangement is no more an issue to us. We will join parliament session once the cases field against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman are withdrawn, and the government scraps its decision to cancel allocation of the BNP chief's cantonment residence.”
He told The Daily Star that offer of one more front-row seat would not change the opposition stance. “It is still one hundred percent uncertain whether we will return to parliament in its next session.”
Hamid had earlier mediated talks between chief whips of the House and the opposition to resolve the crisis but it continued.
BNP has been boycotting parliament since its second session in June, putting a number of conditions. Initially, it had demanded two more seats in the front row, raising the number to six, as a condition for joining the House session. Later the party added the other conditions.