 Most top politicians, including former Prime Ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina were imprisoned on corruption charges, and a state of emergency existed.Hence, to counter the rampant corruption in politics, Yunus proposed a political party run by clean honest people.In early 2006 Yunus, along with other members of the civil society including Professor Rehman Sobhan, former chief justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, jurist Kamal Hossain, Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam and economist Debapriya Bhattacharya, participated in a campaign for honest and clean candidates in national elections.