BNP leader accuses Chief Adviser Yunus of breaching signed July Charter

BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed has accused Chief Adviser to the interim government, Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, of violating the July National Charter that Yunus himself signed on October 17 at the National Parliament Building's South Plaza. 

Salahuddin Ahmed highlighted significant discrepancies between the government's published version of the charter in the Gazette and the signed document.

Professor Yunus addressed the nation at 2:30 pm on Thursday, outlining his vision for implementing the July National Charter and associated reforms. 

In his speech, he proposed holding national parliamentary elections and a referendum simultaneously. 

He also advocated for a bicameral parliament, including the creation of a 100-member upper house allocated proportionally based on parties' vote shares in national elections. 

Constitutional amendments, he stated, would require approval from a majority of upper house members.

Responding swiftly to the address, Ahmed Salahuddin criticised these proposals as direct contradictions to the signed charter. 

"The proportional representation (PR) system for the upper house was already settled by the National Consensus Commission via a 'Note of Dissent'—there's no room to reimpose it now," he said. "This flies in the face of the charter we all signed."

The BNP leader further objected to Yunus's mention of a "Constitutional Reform Council," calling it an entirely novel concept that was never discussed by the Consensus Commission at any point. 

"It wasn't on the table during deliberations in the national parliament," he added.

The BNP plans to issue a formal rebuttal to Yunus's speech. 

To that end, the party's Standing Committee has convened an emergency meeting for tonight to deliberate on next steps.