Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday rejected the decision to hold the next general elections under the government, led by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, as stated by her in parliament.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, flanked by the party senior leaders at a news briefing at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office at around 10:45pm, said the prime minister told the parliament on the day (Wednesday) that she had apprised the president that she was ready to hold the elections.
Fakhrul said she (prime minister) also told the parliament that the president had given her permission to continue with the polls-time government.
Fakhrul said the day’s (Wednesday) session was the last of the ninth parliament but the parliament was not dissolved and the cabinet remained.
He said the prime minister through her statement projected their ‘blueprint’ for holding ‘one-party’ election.
He said the government was advancing to hold a ‘one-party’ election defying the aspiration of the entire nation.
Fakhrul claimed that the government’s steps had deepened the crisis and pushed the nation into uncertainty.
Fakhrul said when people were in a movement for a free, fair and inclusive election under a non-party government, the decision of holding a unilateral election would push the nation into further crisis.
‘We reject the decision,’ he said.
He said the opposition once again urged the government to immediately hold discussion with the opposition to take step on the basis of a consensus for holding elections under a non-party government.
Asked whether the prime minister’s statement in parliament meant that the president had ignored their demand they had placed during their meeting with him on Tuesday, Fakhrul skipped a direct reply saying the prime minister’s statement was what should be the main concern now.
BNP leaders RA Gani, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Jamiruddin Sircar, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Amanullah Aman and Barkatullah Bulu, among others, were present at the briefing.
-With New Age input
