Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen did not ask his US counterpart to encourage BNP to participate in elections during their recent meeting in Washington, Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud said on Thursday.
The minister said this while replying to questions from journalists at the Secretariat.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said the foreign minister had requested the US secretary of state for bringing BNP to the next polls and said that it exposed that Awami League seeks foreigners' favour and not the BNP.
"The foreign minister said this while talking to the media but did not mention it during the official talks," said Hasan.
"The foreign minister might have said that in the context of BNP going to the foreigners every time for everything. It's not the opinion of the government or of the ruling party," he added.
BNP is afraid of joining polls and that's why they have rejected the UP elections as well as parliamentary voting, he said.
He said the election train never waits for anybody as it did not in 2014.
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In 2018, BNP was in a dilemma about boarding the train but later participated in the election at the last moment, he added.
"It is not our duty to remove BNP's fear. Hopefully, they will join the election overcoming their fear, " he said.
