Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said the ruling party is ready to face the BNP on the streets and in elections, noting that the Awami League is now better organized and united under the leadership of its president, Sheikh Hasina, than any other time in the past.
"BNP leaders are still daydreaming about the fall of the government, and they are making ridiculous statements demanding the government's resignation," he told a press briefing at his Secretariat office.
Quader, also road transport and bridges minister, said sitting on the banks of the Thames River, convicted fugitive BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman is daydreaming about defeating the Awami League, a party that emerged from the streets.
Bangabandhu's daughter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has not learnt to be defeated and she never breaks down, he said, adding that the Awami League was on the streets, remains on the streets and will stay on the streets.
Reiterating that the next general election will be held in time as per the country's constitution, Quader said the election is supposed to be held at the end of 2023 or at the beginning of 2024, as the chief election commissioner has hinted.
He said the BNP's dream of ousting the government by capitalizing on the people's suffering due to the ongoing global crisis will not bring about any result.
Quader said the Sheikh Hasina-led government continues its all-out efforts to deal with this economic crisis. "This crisis will be overcome soon, Insha Allah, and good days will come again," he added.
From London, the fugitive convicted announced to “take back Bangladesh”, the Awami League general secretary said, adding that "their take back" means returning to Pakistani ideology and submerging the country in the sea of corruption of Hawa Bhaban.
The country's people do not want to return to the misrule of the BNP-Jamaat regime, he said, adding they do not want to see looting and bloodshed in Bangladesh anymore.
Responding to a statement of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir that the Awami League government will not find a way to escape unless the next parliamentary election is held under a caretaker government, the road transport minister said the BNP, not the Awami League, has the history of fleeing.
He said BNP leader Tarique fled abroad on an undertaking that he would not do politics in the future.
Asking BNP leaders to return to the path of democracy and elections, Quader warned: "Otherwise, you will not find an escape passage".