Preparations for a greater simultaneous movement are likely to have a new momentum as the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party is planning to reschedule its planned December 24 demonstration to draw more alliances, parties and groups in the agitation.

‘As we have already talked about more comprehensive plans on the simultaneous movement with some parties, we may defer our December 24 nationwide demonstration by two to four days,’ a BNP standing committee member told FP on Tuesday.

He said that two liaison committees would be formed very soon to coordinate the upcoming programmes with the Ganatantra Mancha, an alliance of seven political parties, and the partners in the BNP-led alliance separately.

He said that BNP standing committee members Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud and Selima Rahman would coordinate with the Ganatantra Mancha while Nazrul Islam Khan and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy would maintain liaison with the BNP-led alliance members.

The BNP will place a package of 27 proposals in a short order, which will address the demands of the Mancha and other parties beyond the BNP’s 10-point demands, the BNP leader further said.

Meanwhile, the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, a Mancha partner, put forward a set of 10 demands as its individual party demands towards resolving the country’s political crisis on Tuesday, a day after the Mancha announced 14-point alliance demands.

JSD president ASM Abdur Rob at a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital said that without holding the next general elections in a free, fair and credible manner it would not be possible to overcome the country’s political conundrum.

About the matter, the BNP standing committee member said that most Mancha and BNP demands were similar, adding that the alliance has lightly addressed the issue of state reform while the JSD demands are mostly related to state reform.

‘All these issues will be addressed and no gap will remain among the parties and alliances concerned after the BNP comes up with its state reform package,’ he said.

All parties want elections under a caretaker government, the dissolution of the parliament and a new Election Commission. While the Mancha’s few additional demands concern state reform, most of the JSD demands are for state reform.

Earlier, immediately after the BNP’s December 10  Dhaka rally, 10 partners in the BNP-led alliance in a statement expressed their willingness to participate in the future programmes with the BNP while the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on the day announced 10-point demands — mostly similar to those of the BNP.

On Tuesday, the Jamaat staged a huge demonstration in protest of the arrest of its top leader Shafiqur Rahman by police early Friday.

While the BNP and other like-minded parties are preparing for a massive movement, the Left Democratic Alliance, a coalition of six left-leaning parties, staged demonstrations on Tuesday across the country protesting the attacks on opposition parties and calling for the restoration of people’s voting right and democracy.

The BNP, as announced earlier, too, held demonstrations throughout the country to demand an immediate release of its leaders, including party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee members and scores who were arrested over its December 10 Dhaka mass rally, and to protest the police raid on its Naya Paltan central office.