Abdullah Juberee . Bogra
The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Saturday warned the government against signing any deal with foreign countries going against national interest and vowed to take to the streets if such agreements were signed. ‘After assuming office, the government seems to be eager to sign deals on issues of national interest and national resources. Do not do anything which forces us to take to the streets. No deal against national interests would to be tolerated,’ she said at roadside rally at Hatikumrul in Sirajganj on her way to Bogra.
Khaleda accused the government of deceiving the people, deviating from their election pledges, including the one of giving the post of the deputy speaker to the opposition. ‘Despite their attitude towards the opposition, we are still eager to extend our cooperation to them. But they first need to create the environment necessary for it,’ she said.
Khaleda also demanded the government should provide fertiliser for farmers free as they were faced with acute shortage the agricultural input now in keeping with the ruling party’s pre-election commitment.
On reaching Bogra, she went to the parental home of her husband, the slain president Ziaur Rahman, at Bagbari of Gabtali at about noon and addressed a discussion at Shahid Ziaur Rahman Mahavidyalaya marking the 73rd anniversary of the birth of Ziaur Rahman.
Khaleda also accused the Awami League of unleashing a reign of terror on her activists across the country. ‘Twenty of our activists have been killed by them. They are also looting people’s property, she alleged.
‘After the assumption of office, the Awami League has created an environment of fear across the country by carrying out looting, attacks, extortion and setting fire to property of the people,’ she said.
She asked the Awami League chief to rein in her activists and student supporters. ‘But the administration is not taking any action against them,’ Khaleda alleged.
Khaleda iterated her allegation of massive rigging in the December 29 parliamentary polls and the upazila elections. ‘Conspiracies to defeat the BNP began when we were in power but we failed to understand it then. No fair elections could be expected from the Election Commission which had devised mechanisms for splitting BNP,’ she said.
A large number of people greeted her standing on both sides of the highway during her journey.
People at Shahjahanpur in Bogra carried placards demanding withdrawal of the expulsion of local leader Sarkar Badal from the party.
Deviating from her past practice, Khaleda for the first time addressed any programe commemorating the birth anniversary of Ziaur Rahman.
Leaders of the Bogra BNP described her tour as electioneering in the guise of paying tribute to the late president for the upcoming by-elections at Gabtali.
Local BNP leaders demanded nomination in the by-elections for her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, for any of the constituencies she had vacated. But Khaleda ignored their demands.
Khaleda also instructed the local leaders to settle their disputes when some of them lodged complaints against their rivals to her.
The party’s secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, standing committee members Moudud Ahmed and Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, party chief’s advisers Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and ASM Hannan Shah, joint secretaries general Mirza Abbas, Selima Rhman and Abdul Mannan, and former Rajshahi mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu also spoke.
On her way to Dhaka, Khaleda also visited the newly constructed Baitur Rahman mosque in Bogra and met local journalists at the Bogra Press Club.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
