A disappointed Delwar to skip EC talks

Dhaka, April 16 (bdprem.com)—BNP leader Khandaker Delwar Hossain said Wednesday he would not join talks with the Election Commission as he was not addressed as the party's secretary general in an invitation letter by the EC.

However, Delwar said, after a meeting with senior leaders of the BNP faction, that he would instead send a delegation, led by standing committee member Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, to Thursday's midday talks. The meeting, billed as a courtesy call, has been set for a 12:00pm start. A special messenger delivered the invitation letter Wednesday. Delwar, appointed secretary general by detained BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, said the delegation would ask the EC representatives to invite him to next dialogue. "Party leaders and workers will reject any decision different from what we want," he told reporters. Hours after the main election office invited two factions of the BNP to separate meetings, Delwar sat with his colleagues on his NAM flat to discuss the invitation. The meeting was attended by Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, Khaleda's adviser ASM Hannan Shah and joint secretaries general Selima Rahman, Nazrul Islam Khan and Goyeshwar Chandra Roy. In the invitation letter, the EC has described Delwar only as BNP leader, not as secretary general, Goyeshwar had earlier told bdprem.com. In another letter, the EC invited acting secretary general Hafizuddin Ahmed of the rival faction to a separate meeting, starting at 10am, public relations officer for the EC M Asaduzzaman told bdprem.com. Hafizuddin has also been described only as BNP leader in the letter. The talks are meant to find ways to ease the deadlock over EC's planned dialogue with the BNP that had stalled the process of finalising election reforms laws. The EC had earlier wrapped up two rounds of talks with the political parties except for the BNP.