Demand for the release of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina from prison will top the Awami League's agenda during dialogue with the government, acting AL president Zillur Rahman said Friday.

Briefing reporters at his Gulshan home, he said: "We won't let conspirators to go ahead with the polls while Sheikh Hasina will be excluded from the process."

"The Awami League will not participate in the elections without Sheikh Hasina," Zillur said in a meeting with the members of Awami Motor Drivers' League.

Replying to a query, the AL leader said: "If the government decides to lift the embargo on indoor politics for the rest of the country, that'll be a positive gesture, no doubt. But the emergency must go before the elections."

Awami Motor Drivers' League president Ali Hossain, general secretary Abdullah Rana and AL forest and environment secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud were present at the briefing.