BNP on Wednesday accused the government of not taking action against corrupt traders.
“A certain group of pro-government traders is engaged in making money through syndication ahead of Ramzan. As a result, prices of essential goods in the markets are skyrocketing. But the Awami League-led government is keeping mum,” BNP leader Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain said.
“The government’s electoral pledge was to keep the prices of essential commodities under control, but it has failed miserably,” he added.
“At the same time, student and youth front leaders of the ruling party are engaged in tender manipulation,” he alleged.
Mosharraf was addressing a programme on “Caretaker government (CG) system is a way to resolve the prevailing political crisis”, organised by Meghna Upazila Jatiyatabadi Youth Forum at the National Press Club here.
Referring to a report by Transparency International of Bangladesh (TIB) on Tuesday, the BNP leader said, “Awami League leaders are steeped in corruption. This was authenticated by the TIB putting the most-corrupt tag on political parties for the first time in the country.”
Corruption is rampant in every sector in the country due to the government’s “money-mongering mentality”, he added.
He said the non-party CG restoration issue has turned into a mass demand. “We will extend our cooperation if the government wants to restore the CG provision in the charter during the current session of Parliament,” adding that the government would be held responsible if any untoward incident took place on the issue.
Hossain’s party colleague MK Anwar also warned the government against holding the next general election under its own management. “We will resist the government as well as voters if polls are not held under a CG,” Anwar said in a separate programme at the National Press Club.
The BNP standing committee member also accused the government of indulging in politics of vengeance. “The
government has implicated our party’s senior vice-president, Tarique Rahman, in false cases. But the government has failed to prove him guilty,” he said.
“The government, however, has brought no corruption charges against those involved in the Padma Bridge scam despite valid evidence,” Mosharraf told a gathering at a photo exhibition on Tarique Rahman.
Referring to the Awami League’s recent reverses in various city corporation polls, the BNP leader said, “Good sense has prevailed upon the countrymen and they have started giving a befitting reply to the government. The ruling party will face grave consequences in the long run.”
BNP leaders Abdullah Al Noman, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Shawkat Mahmud, Abdus Salam and others spoke at the programme with former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Emajuddin Ahmed in the chair.
Also on Wednesday, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan accused the government of trying to curb media freedom. “The government is intolerant to criticism and thus imposing embargo on the mass media in a bid to manipulate the result of the next general election,” he told a programme held to demand immediate release of detained Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman.
“The country’s democracy and freedom of the mass media would be threatened if the Awami League is not ousted from power,” he added.
-With The Independent input
