The ruling Awami League (AL) has planned to develop relations with several left parties which are now outside the 14-party alliance.
Sources said the left parties, believing in the spirit of the great Liberation War and the ideals of secularism upon which Bangladesh was founded, would be selected for the alliance.
According to sources, AL has already started communicating with many of those left parties to form a unity.
Sources in the AL said the party has taken the move as it does not want to remain relaxed even after the failure of the BNP-Jamaat led alliance in every field.
However, none of these left- leaning parties wants to speak about the government’s move to include them into the alliance. It has been learnt that they did not take any initiative of forming any alliance of the left-leaning parties yet.
Meanwhile, on condition of anonymity, some of the leaders of several left-leaning parties have admitted that the ruling party leaders have been talking to them as part of the move to include them into the Awami League- led alliance.
A leader of a left party said leaders from both AL and BNP talk to them when they gather at different functions and on many occasions. Many issues are being discussed during the talks among them.
He also said that even they also talked to each other regarding the issue of strengthening the AL-led alliance by including many left parties in the existing 14-party alliance.
Some of the left leaders, however, raised allegations as saying that being the leaders of comparatively small parties, the ruling party leaders, in many cases, do not evaluate them. Unless they are evaluated properly by the ruling party leaders, they would not think of being intimate with the government.
Some senior leaders of the Awami League said the party has taken the initiatives of strengthening the Awami League- led alliance with a view to facing the next national parliamentary election.
They said the AL leadership wants to see the AL-led alliance even stronger having secular Bangladesh and the spirit of the Liberation War as common philosophy before the next national parliament elections .
A leader of the Awami League said the ruling party has urged the left-leaning parties to stand beside the government to strengthen the voice against some vested quarters which attempt to make Bangladesh unstable and prevent the development of the country.
It should be mentioned that during the last two parliamentary elections many of the left-leaning parties played roles acting against Awami League like the BNP and Jamaat.
Gano Sanghati Andolan, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Socialist Party of Bangladesh, Socialist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist), the Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, the United Communist League of Bangladesh, the Democratic Revolutionary Party and Democratic Left Alliance were among those parties.
AFM Bahauddin Nasim, a joint general secretary of Awami League, said that AL always had respected the progressive and democratic forces.
“We can always have discussions with those who work to maintain a sense of freedom,” he said.
He also said, “In the interest of the country, there is no problem with building a unity with anyone having the spirit of the Liberation War and secular Bangladesh.”
“Awami League will not compromise with war criminals, razakars (traitors), fanatics, religious businessmen and communal forces,” he added.