"We might consider compromising on some proposals for electoral reforms. But we will never allow Justice KM Hasan to be the chief adviser and Justice MA Aziz to continue as the CEC, and at the same time, the other election commissioners too will have to be changed," Awami League (AL) General Secretary Abdul Jalil told The Daily Star at his Mercantile Bank office yesterday.

Any dialogue with the ruling BNP must seek to fix who other than Justice Hasan and Justice Aziz will be the chief adviser to the caretaker government and the CEC, Jalil, also coordinator of the 14-party combine, said.

BNP has yet to give the main opposition AL any formal proposal for talks. LGRD and Cooperatives Minister and BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan was supposed to call his counterpart Jalil on Wednesday night, but the AL general secretary told The Daily Star at 10:00pm that he did not yet get the phone call.

"They [Bhuiyan and his colleagues] are certainly discussing in the party forum how many of our proposals for reforms should they accept at the negotiating table," he said adding that may be that is why Bhuiyan has been taking time to give him a call and make a formal proposal for dialogue.

"I know when he will call me," the AL general secretary told The Daily Star, declining to elaborate on the matter.

He said he is hopeful of breaking the deadlock through talks.

Replying to another query, he said if a dialogue takes place, then it would obviously be on a one-to-one basis where three to four leaders from each party will assist the secretaries general.

Meanwhile, a source within the ruling party said Bhuiyan might call Jalil and give him the formal proposal for talks with some conditions attached anytime today.

The talks issue came up when Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday evening met Mannan Bhuiyan and Health and Family Welfare Minister Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain to discuss the power crisis, said PMO sources.

Bhuiyan has already had telephone conversations with a number of senior ministers and leaders over the prospective talks with AL. The final decision on making a formal proposal however will come from BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, said party insiders.

On the other hand, Jalil too has been consulting the senior opposition leaders about strategies and tactics for the planned discussion with the ruling party.

They have been thinking about how much concession they are going to make on the reform agenda. Jalil will also sit with Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina after getting a formal proposal from Bhuiyan, AL sources said.

The possibility of a secretaries-general level dialogue had opened up following telephone conversations between Bhuiyan and Jalil. After the talk, Jalil softened his stance and said if Bhuiyan gives a formal proposal even over telephone, he will agree to sit for discussion about the reforms.

Besides Jalil-Bhuiyan telephone conversation, the country's business leaders have been trying from Tuesday night to bring the two leaders at the negotiating table to resolve the ongoing political dispute stemming from the proposed electoral reforms. They already had at least three meetings with Bhuiyan and Jalil and look to sit with them again.

In another development on Wednesday, US Ambassador in Dhaka Patricia A Butenis held a meeting with AL chief Sheikh Hasina while Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri met Jalil, both stressing the need for an immediate dialogue.

After the meeting, Jalil said there is no need for any mediation and that he and Mannan Bhuiyan will suffice to hold a dialogue on getting the nod from the parties.

Replying to a query, he said the 14-party combine is not considering Grameen Bank Chairman Dr Muhammad Yunus as head of the caretaker government.

Earlier on Wednesday, addressing a civil society dialogue in the city Yunus said he would be willing to take the helm of the interim government, if proposed.