BNP ready for polls but on Dec 28, if conditions met: Khaleda

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BNP will go to general election but on Dec. 28, if conditions are met, Khaleda Zia announced in a televised briefing after back-to-back meetings of her party and members of the four-party alliance Thursday, reports bdnews24.com.
In an immediate reaction, Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, the government's spokesman, said they had nothing to say at the moment but would give a decision after further discussion.
Khaleda had steered an hour-long 'critical meeting' of her party's top policymaking forum to come to a decision on joining the general election, 72 hours after she announced the four-party alliance's four demands.
The standing committee meeting began at around 7pm at the chairperson's Gulshan office, followed by the four-party talks beginning at 8:00pm.
Among those present at the standing committee meeting were M Saifur Rahman, Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Dr RA Gani, Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, M Shamsul Islam, Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain and Joint General Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan.
Standing committee member Moudud Ahmed is now in prison.
"We will contest the election if it is held on December 28, but the rest of our conditions -- one month deferment of Upazila election, repeal of RPO's 91E provision and total lifting of the state of emergency-- have to be met," she said after a four-party alliance meeting.
The state of emergency has to be lifted from the date of withdrawal of candidature.
The BNP chief said, "We urge the government to create a congenial atmosphere for the election [without making unilateral decisions]."
Khaleda said democracy must be brought back to the country through election and argued an election under emergency could not be free and fair.
Earlier on Monday, she had given the government 48 hours to meet the four demands, including a fresh schedule, for the four-party alliance to go to elections.
BNP and its allies have called for total withdrawal of the state of emergency and re-announcement of the election schedule for the sake of pilgrims who are now in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.
Repeal of section 91E of the Representation of the People Ordinance that gives the Election Commission power to cancel candidacy, and deferment of Upazila polls are the two other demands.
At the briefing, Khaleda alleged the government and the Election Commission had been conspiring to keep the four-party alliance out of the election and destroy the country's democratic forces.
She demanded that the section 91E of the RPO be repealed as the "biased" Election Commission could not be trusted.
As part of the efforts to destroy the democratic forces, Khaleda alleged, the government tried to obliterate her family and keep them out of politics.
"Even after everything, considering the country's democratic progress, BNP had agreed to contest in the polls and gave seven demands to the government to create a favourable environment."
"But the government only wasted time instead of meeting our demands, which the government had pledged to," she added.