AL, JP closing in on 40-seat deal

Awami League (AL) and Jatiya Party (JP), two components of the AL-led grand electoral alliance, are close to finalising their seat-sharing deal for the upcoming parliamentary polls.
However, they still have differences of opinion on JP's demand to bring better balance of power between the prime minister and the president, if they are voted to power.
AL agreed to share around 40 seats with ally JP but JP is trying to get over 50 seats for its candidates, sources said. They have finalised a number of JP candidates, the sources added.
AL yesterday changed its nominations for 10 more constituencies as time for filing nomination papers runs out today. On Friday, AL Parliamentary Board changed four nominations.
Sources said the possibility of forging a greater electoral alliance with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the AL-led grand alliance is little. If the formation of the greater alliance fails, a number of LDP leaders might get offers to join AL, sources hinted.
A JP leader said their party high-command is ready to curtail their demand for seats but are standing firm on the power balance issue.
JP high-ups were very firm on the issue during a party presidium meeting held after JP acting Chairman Anisul Islam Mahmood and presidium member Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu had a meeting with AL President Sheikh Hasina at her Sudha Sadan home last night.
"We have had fruitful talks with AL President Sheikh Hasina over seat sharing and we expect to get more than 40 seats," acting JP Chairman Anisul Islam Mahmood, however, told reporters after the meeting with the AL chief.
Earlier in the day, the two JP leaders had a two-hour meeting with AL leaders on the issues.
Sources said they finalised a number of JP candidates for some constituencies after reviewing 2001 election results and the report of a survey conducted by AL election conducting committee.
Leaders of both parties said they selected candidates considering who is more likely to secure the seat in the December 29 polls and disregarded their party affiliation.
AL spokesman Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said AL has got rid of the seat-sharing issues with its allies in the 14-party combine, now reduced to a nine-party coalition. Workers' Party and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal got three seats each while Gonotantri Party got one.
He hoped to settle the issue with JP soon.
AL and JP, two components of the grand alliance, have been in talks over sharing seats for the last couple of weeks.
The 10 candidates who got AL nominations are Tajul Islam Mohammad Faruq for Rajshahi-5 replacing Abdul Wadud Dara, Ishtiaque Ahmed for Jamalpur-1 replacing Abul Kalam Azad, Junaid Ahmed Polok for Natore-3 replacing Hanif Ali Sheikh, Azizul Haque Chowdhury for Dinajpur-6 replacing Abu Hanif Sarkar, Anwarul Azim Anwar for Jhenidah-4 replacing Abdul Mannan, Shafiqul Azim Khan for Jhenidah-3 replacing Principal Nabi Newaj, Ali Ashraf Khan Khosru for Netrakona-2 replacing Lt Col (retd) Abu Noor Khan, Shafi Ahmed for Netrakona-3 replacing Rebeka Momin, Shamsul Alam Dudu for in Joypurhat-1 replacing Principal Khwaja Shamsul Haque and Khaledur Rahman Tito for Jessore-3 replacing Ali Reza Raju.