Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has said that neither the streets are any political party’s ancestral property nor have they been leased to anyone.
“The Awami League will not allow the BNP on empty streets,” Quader, who is also road transport and bridges minister, told a ward-level conference of Lalbagh thana unit of the ruling party on Monday in response to remarks by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Earlier Mirza Fakhrul said: “From now on the BNP will control the streets.”
The Awami League leader said: “The BNP is allowed to wage political movements peacefully. We will not tolerate any vandalism in the name of political movements.”
“You will protest on empty streets and the Awami League will watch it sitting idly – that will not happen,” Quader added.
“The BNP has assigned some people to attend the party’s demonstrations. We will see how long they stay with the BNP. In the last election the 20-party alliance led by the BNP was a mess.”
Quader also warned his own party members, leaders and activists not to breach party discipline and said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will not tolerate anyone who causes chaos, as there were some people at the conference venue who were making chaos before the central leaders of Awami League.
“You cannot become a leader by chanting slogans, by creating chaos, by showing muscle strength. Whoever is popular in the area will be the leader,” Quader told the local leaders of the area.