Salahuddin asks opposition to join Constitution Amendment Committee as they demand 26% committee chairmanships

A dispute has emerged over the allocation of chairmanships of parliamentary standing committees, with the opposition demanding 26% of the committee chairmanships in proportion to its number of seats in parliament. The government, however, has linked the allocation of committee chairmanships to the opposition's participation in the committee formed to amend the Constitution.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed urged the opposition to join the Constitution Amendment Committee to help implement the July National Charter.

The issue arose during discussions on the formation and reconstitution of parliamentary standing committees on the second day of the third session of the 13th National Parliament.

Opposition Deputy Leader Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said the opposition currently holds 26% of the membership of parliamentary standing committees based on its share of seats in parliament and expects the chairmanships to be allocated according to the same proportion.

"But so far, the opposition has not been given the chairmanship of any ministry-related committee," he said.

Taher also rejected the government's proposal to link the opposition's eligibility for committee chairmanships with its participation in the Constitution Amendment Committee.

He said the opposition had made a policy decision not to join the committee and did not consider it appropriate to impose any condition to ensure its participation.

Government Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni, however, said that after speaking with Taher over the phone, he had expected the opposition to join the Constitution Amendment Committee. For this reason, the process of reconstituting the standing committees was suspended on Sunday.

He said there had been no tradition over the past 54-55 years of appointing opposition MPs as chairpersons of parliamentary committees, except for the Public Accounts Committee.

Nevertheless, he said the government was willing to allocate the chairmanship of 10 parliamentary committees to the opposition on a proportional basis if the opposition participated in the process of implementing the July National Charter.

Following this, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed urged the opposition to join the Constitution Amendment Committee. He said the opposition's demand for implementation of the July National Charter while simultaneously refusing to cooperate in its implementation was a contradictory position.

"You will demand everything on the basis of the July National Charter, yet you will not cooperate in implementing the Charter. These two positions are contradictory," Salahuddin said.

Urging the opposition to join the committee, Salahuddin said any dissenting opinions expressed by opposition members would also be recorded in the committee's report and made public.

He said giving opposition MPs the chairmanship of parliamentary standing committees was also part of the July National Charter. However, implementing the provision would require a constitutional amendment.

"If you participate, we will welcome you. The July National Charter will then be fully implemented. Until then, we will proceed according to the existing rules," he said.