BNP to reply to Speaker's letter

BNP has decided to reply to the Speaker's third letter to the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament requesting the main opposition party to return to the House.

Speaker Humayun Rashid Chowdhury sent the letter to Khaleda Zia on Thursday.

When contacted last night, BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told The Daily Star that the reply to the Speaker's letter would be given in a couple of days.

BNP sources said Khaleda Zia sent the letter to Deputy Leader of the Opposition Prof AQM Badrudozza Chowdhury yesterday for preparing a reply.

Chief Whip of the Opposition Khandaker Delwar Hossain will send the reply this time also as in the case of two earlier letters.

The sources also said there is no possibility of BNP's return to the Parliament till its demands and preconditions are met.

A top BNP leader said last night that there was nothing to discuss with the ruling party leaders about the four-point demand of his party because agreement in this regard was signed twice in the Parliament but it was not implemented.

He said the Speaker in his third letter didn't mention the five preconditions relating to the Prime Minister's indecent remarks on Khaleda Zia.

The BNP leader said a dialogue is necessary before the Opposition returns to the House. But the demands and the preconditions must be met for creating a congenial atmosphere for dialogue.

Earlier, the chiefs of BNP, Jatiya Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote at a meeting last month announced that they would not join the current session of Parliament.