Dhaka, Jan 28 (Just News): BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said on Sunday that it is a stupidity to think that BNP would join the polls if its chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia is kept out of the election.
“It will be nothing but a stupidity to think that anyone of BNP will join the polls if its chairperson Khaleda Zia and senior vice chairman (Tarique Rahman) are kept out of the election process,” said the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader.
He made this statement talking to newsmen after a meeting with the chief election commissioner, KM Nurul Huda, at the EC secretariat in Agargaon of the capital.
A BNP delegation led by Nazrul Islam met the CEC and submitted the party’s amended constitution and the resolution of the party’s national council session held in 2016.
Nazrul Islam Khan told newsmen that the election commission thinks that the next polls would not be participatory if BNP boycotts it.
“We hope that the next elections will be free, fair and neutral. It will be a participatory one as well. Otherwise, it will be a farce in the name of election. We don’t want to participate in a farcical election,” he said.
He said the election in Bangladesh cannot be considered a participatory one if it is boycotted either of BNP and Bangladesh Awami League (AL).
The BNP leader alleged that an effort is underway to convict Khaleda, Tarique and some other innocent people without any reasons.
“If something like that happens, the aspiration of a participatory election will be hampered. We hope nothing like that will happen,” he added.
The BNP senior leader made the remarks at a time when a makeshift court has fixed 8 February to pronounce its verdict on a graft case against BNP chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
Political analysts and politically conscious people have kept eyes on the verdict as it is widely believed that Khaleda might be convicted in the case to, as her party leaders said, keep her away from the next general elections to be held in the yearend.
The country’s political arena has heated up once again with the two main conteners for power - BNP and AL - at loggerheads centring on the verdict.
(Justnews/ys/2320)
