Awami League (AL) Advisory Council member and Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Saturday ruled out the possibility of holding dialogue between ruling party AL and BNP before national election as previous dialogues between the two parties could not yield any success.

"Dialogue was held between (the then AL general secretary) Abdul Jalil and (then BNP secretary general) Manna Bhuiyan, but it could not be successful. Later, many dialogues were held but results were not good," he told a function on the need for political dialogue before national polls hosted by Debate for Democracy at FDC here.

The veteran AL leader said the then opposition leader and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia called for political dialogue between the two parties before the January 5 election in 2014.

Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina started a process of holding dialogue but Khaleda Zia did not respond to it, he said.

Tofail said BNP has made a mistake as it did not take part in the general election on January 5 in 2014 and did not respond to the call of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He urged BNP to take preparation for the next polls as it will be held under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in late 2018 or early 2019, he said.

"It is completely BNP's own matter whether it will take part in the next general election or not," he said.

Debate for Democracy Chairman Hasan Ahmed Kiran chaired the function.

BSS