Alliance govt faces split over power share

Highly placed sources said discontent was brewing up in the ruling coalition as a faction of Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) have not yet been included in any government forum although two years have gone by.

"We are yet to formally quit the alliance and have stopped attending social or political programmes of the BNP-Jamaat government, but I think the days are not very far when we will have to part company with the alliance," said an influential BJP leader on condition of anonymity.

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Leaders of the two alliance partners did not attend the Iftar parties hosted recently by the president and the prime minister.

A BNP policymaker admitted that relations with the two parties were becoming estranged and it would be difficult to maintain the unity of the alliance if it deteriorated.

"There is still time to narrow down the ever widening gap through sharing of power with the two parties considering their contributions during the movement and the election. Maybe they are not so strong, but we cannot ignore them and forget the commitment to form a four-party government," he said.

Another senior BNP leader observed that a section of his party leaders believed that no other party was of any consequence if Jamaat remained with the BNP, but that was not realistic.

He said the AL has already reached a strong understanding with the Workers Party, CPB and JSD (Inu) and announced programmes, while on the other hand 'we are reluctant to maintain even the existing unity of the alliance'.

Leaders of both the IOJ and BJP were highly critical of the current role of BNP-Jamaat government and said they would not bear any responsibilities of the 'misdeeds, corruption and the failure to maintain law and order', since the two parties were not in the government.

These leaders have alleged that the BNP has forgotten them and was happy with Jamaat-e-Islami.

They said although IOJ top leaders like Fazlul Haq Amini and BJP leaders Naziur Rahman Manjur and Kazi Firoz Rashid skipped the Iftar parties, the BNP-Jamaat high-ups have not yet noticed their absence nor have they inquired about their absence in the president and PM's programmes.

Talking to The Daily Star, top leaders of the two parties alleged that the BNP was not giving any importance to them and has forgotten their contribution in the anti-Awami League movement and the general election.

"Let alone in the cabinet, the government has not even given any political appointments to any of our (BJP and IOJ) leaders in the past two years," lamented a senior BJP leader.

Referring to last month's meeting of the top leaders of the alliance with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, he said the PM gave fresh commitment to include representatives of all the alliance partners on union, thana and district level coordination committees, district development and Red Crescent committees, but none of these were implemented as yet.

"We are being humiliated in the eyes of our respective party leaders and activists as we cannot give any satisfactory reply to the people about the price hike and deterioration of law and order," said an IOJ leader.

Another BJP leader said it would not be possible to maintain the unity of the alliance by only keeping Jamaat in the government and holding one or two top-level meetings with the rest.

Leaders of the Azizul Haq-led IOJ faction were also annoyed at the government's non-implementation of its 10-point demand. "It is not possible to keep the alliance alive only by sweet words. We want to see the BNP sharing power with all the component parties of the alliance," said a top leader of the IOJ.