Regarding BNP’s next course of actions, this correspondent spoke with several senior leaders of the party on Thursday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said that the party’s only goal at this moment is the election. The interim government has announced that the national election will be held in the first half of February, and BNP wants it to be held within that timeframe.

However, according to them, the government and the Consensus Commission have taken this desire for elections as a sign of ‘weakness.’

These BNP leaders believe that the government assumes that even if the BNP opposes the recommendations for implementing reforms, it will not be able to take a firm stance of rejection.

According to them, the government and the Consensus Commission, perceiving BNP’s eagerness for elections as a weakness, divided the ‘July National Charter’ into two phases—first, the formulation of the reform proposals or the July Charter itself, and second, the recommendations for implementing the charter.

The BNP had believed that the implementation recommendations would include provisions for dissenting opinions, but the government secured signatures from political parties on the July Charter and later omitted many things from the recommendations.