Staff Correspondent
Awami League and BNP will hold their parliamentary party meetings tomorrow before inauguration of the ninth parliament.
The newly elected legislature will convene at 3:00pm at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. Its first task will be electing a speaker and deputy speaker. In the opening session, it might also elect a successor to President Iajuddin Ahmed.
As is the practice, the president will address the inaugural session.
Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina will chair the AL Parliamentary Party (ALPP) meeting scheduled to begin at 2:00pm. BNP Chairperson and Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia will preside over BNP parliamentary party (BNPP).
“Our parliamentary party will meet before parliament goes into session,” BNP leader Salauddin Quader Chowdhury told The Daily Star last night.
At the meeting they will select a deputy leader and chief whip of the opposition, he added.
Meanwhile, BNP yesterday demanded that the traditional seating arrangements in parliament not be changed.
“The opposition lawmakers sit on the left side of the speaker while the ruling party members on the right,” Salauddin Quader told reporters at his Dhanmondi residence.
“If there’s a break with this long tradition, we’ll tell people how we are barred from playing an effective role in parliament.”
Sources said the ruling party has proposed that the first-row seats earmarked for the opposition parties be allocated on the basis of proportional representation.
Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar is now trying to resolve the issue through discussions with the ruling and opposition parties, added the sources.
In another development, the president has appointed Abdus Shahid as chief whip and Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, Mujibul Huq Mujib, Sagufta Yasmin Emily and Sheikh Abdul Wahab as whips of the parliament.
The chief whip and whips yesterday laid wreaths at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s tomb in Tungipara of Gopalganj and Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on the city’s Dhanmondi road No-32.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
