October 27, 2006

Bangladesh gets a new political party

There were much drama in the political arena in Bangladesh today. Just yesterday the talks between government and the opposition failed, the country is facing a political crisis.

All the attentions were diverted today towards Liberal democratic party, a new political party formed by 24 dissident ruling party (BNP) members led by Oli Ahmed MP. Amongst them are at least 12 lawmakers, a junior minister, a former Parliament speaker and three former ministers. And they say that almost 100 members are ready for defection after the change of power. Former president A.Q.M. Badruddoza Chowdhury was a dissident who left BNP 5 years ago over differences with the party chief and current prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. The defectors alleged absence of democracy in the party, corruption in the Zia family and supporting the Islamic fundamentalists.

Many of the defectors houses were burnt down by ruling party goons. A frustrated effort it seems. One could tell that they are bad at housekeeping just from the fact that an important thing like the BNP's website is down for construction since long.

Now the equation in the upcoming election gets changed with LDP coming as a force and to fill the vacuum left by the acrimony and incompetence of the two major political parties - BNP and Awami League. An interesting discussion is going on in Drishtipat regarding this.

BNP will relinquish power today to a caretaker government under Justice KM Hasan who will be boycotted by the opposition. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will address the nation today. The Weekly Blitz alerted that the nation is heading towards a confirmed confrontation and political violence. And there is an appehension of declaring state of emergency. The coming days are crucial for Bangladesh. I am very much tensed.

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