03 November 2004	Wednesday	19 Ramazan 1425

DHAKA, Nov 2: Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said on Tuesday that the next general elections would be held under the BNP government, if the main opposition Awami League declined to participate in the polls under the caretaker government.

"There are only two ways open for the polls - either under the caretaker government according to the constitution or under the elected government, led by the BNP," she said in response to a demand by Sheikh Hasina, president of opposition Awami League, to alter the procedure of formation of the caretaker government. "There is no other alternative."

The prime minister also criticised opposition Awami League for coming up with "illogical demands and newer theories" in its "ever-shifting political stands".

"Once she sought non-party caretaker government and now she wants to change it," Khaleda, also the BNP chairperson, told a consultation meeting with grassroots leaders of the BNP. Hasina told the October 12 meeting of the AL central working committee that her party would work out a 'formula' to make the caretaker system of administration flawless for neutral holding of the next general election, scheduled in early 2007.