Jamaat-led bloc’s seat-sharing plan will be announced tonight: Mamunul Haque

Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish Ameer Maulana Mamunul Haque has confirmed the Jamaat-led alliance would reveal its seat-sharing plan on Thursday night, and expressed hope that Islami Andolan Bangladesh would join the initiative.

Mamunul made the remark at a press briefing after the alliance held crunch talks at Jamaat-e-Islami’s head office in Moghbazar, Dhaka on Thursday afternoon.

No representative from Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) was present during the in-person meeting, raising speculations that the party held reservations over the proposed seat-sharing arrangement.

However, talks were also held with IAB separately during the meeting, Mamunul said. “Hopefully IAB would join the seat-sharing plan announcement at night,” the Islamic scholar added.

The plan would be outlined in a press conference, he told reporters.

The press conference was slated to be held on Wednesday afternoon, but was abruptly postponed amid rumours that IAB disagreed with the seat-sharing plan finalised at that time. Khelafat Majlish also raised concerns.

Later, in separate internal meetings the two Islamic parties discussed their reservations against the plan, and alleged many of their crucial candidates were denied the opportunity in favour of others. However, top leaders from both the parties pledged to work towards uniting the voter base of Islamic parties ahead of the 12 February elections.

It is worth noting that excluding late-joiners like NCP, the majority of the 11 parties in the alliance are Islamist.