The national committee of Awami League has finalized the budget for party's national council on December 24, and also formed the party election commission panel.
The council budget and panel were finalized during a policy-level meeting of the party chaired Awami League President Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban on Saturday evening.
After the meeting, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader briefed the media in front of the Ganabhaban gate along with the party Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud and AFM Bahauddin Nasim, among others.
“The national committee has finalized the budget for the upcoming council. This time the budget is Tk3.13 crore as we are a savings funds. The budget for the last national council was Tk3.43 crore,” Quader said.
He also said the committee had formed a three-member body to conduct the council session and elect new party leaders, like the previous council. This time, Awami league Advisory Council member Yusuf Hossain Humayun, Dr Mosiur Rahamn, and Sahabuddin Chuppu will be the members of the party EC panel.
According to party insiders, more than 100 applications were submitted seeking action against those who have violated party discipline during Awami League's ongoing tenure. AL chief Sheikh Hasina presented the applications to the national committee, which decided that those who had appealed the allegations would receive mercy while those who did not would face action.
The number of party members who appealed has not been disclosed yet.
According to the party constitution, the AL national committee is the apex decision-making body of the Awami League. Every member of the Awami League Executive committee is also a member of the national committee.
This committee is composed of representatives from each organizational district of the party, while the party president proposes 21 candidates. The national committee includes a total 180 members.
The National Committee must convene at least once annually, according to the constitution. The president, however, has the option of repeating it.
BNP deceives people, not Awami League
Ahead of the meeting, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said the BNP, not the Awami League, has deceived the people of Bangladesh.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina talked about creating a digital Bangladesh, so we did it. She announced plans to make Bangladesh smart within 41 years and the Awami League is working to build a smart Bangladesh,” he said.
“We built the Padma Bridge and Karnaphuli tunnel, and will inaugurate the metro rail on December 28. How are we deceiving the people if we did all these?” added Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges minister.
Claiming that the Awami League was the first party to hand over power peacefully, he said: “Today we are facing more crises than we did in 1971. Back then the population was smaller, society was united. However, there will be no food crisis in Bangladesh.”
Mentioning that Bangladesh is not included in the recent sanctions imposed by the United States, he said: “The BNP tries to impose sanctions by lobbying. They are making efforts to ensure the US poses bans on our country.”
He further said that many development projects would be inaugurated over the next year as several projects, including the Dhaka-Tangail highway, are near completion.
