The main opposition BNP is likely to join parliament’s upcoming budget session on its very first day, June 3.
Party lawmakers Thursday said they would hold a meeting of their parliamentary party that day at parliament and are likely to join the session afterwards.
BNP chairperson and opposition leader Khaleda Zia asked her alliance MPs to stay in the capital on June 3, an MP told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The office of the opposition chief whip called me and asked to attend a meeting at 2pm,” the lawmaker said seeking anonymity.
When contacted, opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque said they were ready to join parliament.
“Opposition leader Khaleda Zia will convene a meeting of the parliamentary party soon and finalise the date of joining,” he said.
BNP lawmakers must join the House by mid-June as they can skip, at best, six more working days of the budget session, otherwise they will lose membership for boycotting parliament sessions for 90 consecutive sittings.
Forty-one opposition MPs – 38 from the BNP, two from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and one from Bangladesh Jatiya Party – have been absent from the House for 83 consecutive days, alleging that the treasury bench’s “hostile” attitude is to blame.
Records show that Khaleda attended only eight of the 370 working days during the 17 sessions of the current parliament. Other BNP MPs attended the House only 52 days, making history with regard to the boycotting of parilament.
The BNP has so far boycotted sittings of the current parliament for 318 working days.
While in the opposition during the BNP-led eighth parliament, the Awami League, stayed away from the House for 223 out of 373 working days.
In the seventh parliament, the BNP was absent from Jatiya Sangsad sessions for 163 of 382 working days. In the fifth parliament, then main opposition AL skipped 135 of the 400 sittings.
The current parliament will expire on October 25.