Ram Madhav, general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), held a meting with central leaders of the Awami League at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital yesterday (Monday) morning. AL joint general secretaries Mahbubul Alam Hanif and Dipu Moni, AL presidium member Lt col (Retd) Faruk Khan, its organising secretary Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, publicity affairs secretary Hasan Mahmud, relief and social welfare affairs secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam and the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, among others, were present at the meeting.

Later, Mahbubul Alam Hanif told this correspondent: “It was an unscheduled meeting. Actually, Ram Madhav was in Dhaka to attend a programme and then he met us. Besides, the BJP leader had earlier invited the Awami League to visit India, and yesterday he extended the invitation once again.”       

However, AL sources said a high-power AL delegation, led by its general secretary Obaidul Quader, will visit India next month. The delegation may discuss with the BJP the Rohingya issue and the next general elections slated for 2019.

Coming out of the meeting, Shahriar Alam told the media that the BJP general secretary expressed their desire to have warm relations with the Bangladesh government, especially with the Awami League. He also said that Ram Madhav wanted Bangladesh and India to work jointly for the economic development of the region.