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Staff Correspondent Khaleda Zia has agreed to consider taking part in the ongoing dialogue with the government by Sunday and meeting her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina, said one of the four advisers who met her Friday night. As the four met the former prime minister for nearly two hours, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed phoned Khaleda and spoke for 10 minutes.
"The chief adviser spoke with her from 9:50pm to 10pm on the phone. They mainly discussed dialogue and polls schedule," commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said.
"We had two objectives: a courtesy call and BNP participation in the current political process," he said.
"Khaleda Zia said she would consider and discuss with party colleagues when we proposed to have the dialogue by Sunday."
The adviser told reporters that Khaleda, who was the sole BNP representative at the meeting, also responded positively to the proposal that she and the Awami League chief, Sheikh Hasina, meet face to face to discuss the nation's problems.
Khaleda, standing trial on a raft of graft charges, was released from prison on bail on Thursday after a year's detention.
She had already said after her release that her party would join electoral dialogue and general elections planned for December.
The four came out of her Shaheed Mainul Road residence at 11.40pm after the Ramadan night meeting and drove to nearby Old DOHS Community Centre to brief journalists.
The other three advisers were law adviser AF Hassan Ariff, communication adviser Ghulam Quader and local government adviser Anwarul Iqbal.
"We have had long discussions on post-election stability, and Khaleda Zia stressed on ensuring a level playing field for all," Hossain Zillur said.
"Institutional reforms and code of conduct for political parties were discussed," he said.
The four had a similar meeting with Sheikh Hasina at her Dhanmondi home hours after she was released on June 11 on parole.
The Awami League chief, also a former prime minister, had also received a similar phone call from the interim government head during the Sudha Sadan meeting.
The adviser said the BNP chief agreed with suggestion that people wanted election candidates with clean image.
"She agreed to phase out those political elements whose activities have been questioned by people," adviser Hossain Zillur said.
"The steps taken to that end by the government so far have been highlighted during the discussions," he said.
"We told her that the two (top) leaders can play a role to clean up politics.
"We know there is a huge lack of (mutual) trust, but we have to move forward ... it's natural that there'll be rivalry between parties but the national interest must get priority."
The adviser said they also asked the BNP chief to form a small team of party officials so that the government could discuss various issues.
"All other parties including the Awami League did that."
He said issues such as the country's economy, health care and education also came up for discussion.
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