On the second day of the party's central working committee (ALCWC) meeting last night, attended by most of the top leaders, Sheikh Hasina was strongly opposed for giving a specific timeframe to the caretaker government for the election. The leaders recommended that she should say 'as early as possible' instead of giving a specific timeframe.

All the leaders said they were not informed beforehand about the June deadline. They said they even did not know that an AL delegation was scheduled to go to the Election Commission (EC) to put forward their demand for holding the election by June, sources present at the meeting told The Daily Star preferring anonymity.

Sheikh Hasina in a news briefing on the first day of the ALCWC meeting demanded that the caretaker government holds the next parliamentary election by June this year.

At the meeting the leaders told the party chief that she took the decision by herself instead of discussing it with other leaders. Some of the leaders also criticised Hasina for retreating from the earlier AL demand for voter ID cards and told the meeting that the election should be held after the ID cards are prepared, the sources added.

The meeting reached a consensus that every decision must be taken through collective discussions from now on to avoid confusion.

The meeting also discussed the incident of signing of the now scrapped memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Bangladesh Khalefat Majlish and AL, which had promised to enact laws making issuance of fatwas legal, and about which most of the party leaders had not been made aware before the signing.

The meeting also emphasised strengthening of internal democracy through holding the party's councils on time and by taking collective decisions, the sources said.

Razzak pointed out that as a secular party AL should not have made any deal with Khelafat Majlish for which the civil society went against AL, according to the sources.

Razzak also told the meeting that the party should designate a leader as the party's spokesperson so that the party's positions are not explained in contradictory ways.

Sources said at the meeting Tofail Ahmed was vociferous who told the meeting that it is not logical to put a timeframe for holding the election at this point. He also said it will not be correct to have a stand off with the present caretaker government, which he said, has been carrying out reforms demanded by AL.

The AL leader also told the meeting that it was one of the party's severe mistakes to accept Iajuddin as the chief adviser to the immediate past caretaker government. "So now we will have to wait for the election until the caretaker government fulfils our demands for transparent ballot boxes, voter list with ID cards and black money free poll," Tofail said in the meeting.

Suranjit said the party should cooperate with the present caretaker government as it has been carrying out a drive against corrupt individuals adding that the government should be given more time to hold the election, according to the sources.

Selim told the meeting that the present caretaker government virtually has an agenda of bringing Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus to power. "We will have to be careful so that Awami League is not harmed," the sources quoted Selim as saying.

Mukul Bose suggested Hasina to deliver her speeches carefully saying, "If you (Hasina) say anything, that becomes the final word. So your speeches should be carefully measured as our fate as well as the party's fate depends on you."

Sultan Mansur said if the party chief's given timeframe for holding the next election is not honoured then there will be adverse reaction among the people about the party leadership.

He also urged the meeting to reevaluate the present state of emergency, 'when people of all walks of life are welcoming it'. The leader also suggested the party chief to bring reforms to the party by bringing forward those leaders who have mass popularity, rather than the businessman, according to the sources.

Finally the AL president in an apparently gloomy mood said as the present caretaker government took oath as per the constitution, it is its obligation to hold the election by April. She also told the meeting that if the election is delayed then the political forces will be harmed.