The ruling 14-party alliance yesterday said there was no doubt that the next parliamentary polls would be held in line with the constitution and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would continue in her post during the election.
Referring to article 57 (3) of the constitution, which stipulates that the prime minister will hold his/her office until a successor takes over, Awami League leader Mohammad Nasim categorically said “there is no doubt” that Hasina would stay in office during the polls.
The spokesperson of the ruling alliance, however, said the alliance did not want any one-sided election – it rather wanted a free and fair one participated by all political parties.
Nasim was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Awami League’s alliance partners at Hasina’s Dhanmondi office. He chaired the meeting.
At a discussion on Saturday, he had, however, said the Awami League would go to polls alone if the main opposition BNP did not participate in it.
The Awami League Presidium member urged the BNP to place its proposal, if any, on the structure of the polls-time administration in parliament.
Sunday's meeting congratulated the prime minister on receiving the South-South Award for her government’s achievement in poverty alleviation.
The meeting was attended by 14-party leaders Sharif Nurul Ambia of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Haji Abdus Samad of Gono Azadi League, Ahmod Hossain and Mrinal Kanti Das of the Awami League, among others.
At another programme, Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahabub-Ul-Alam Hanif on Sunday alleged that the BNP was threatening with movement only to take extra benefits in the elections.
“The BNP is making preparations for the election. At the same time, it is threatening to go for a movement only to take extra benefits in the polls,” he said at an extended meeting of the City Awami League at the party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue.
Hanif said the Khulna rally of the BNP was rather an electoral rally. “The party has been holding such rallies one after another to participate in the upcoming national polls.”
Criticising those who said there was a crisis in the country, he said: “There is no crisis in the country. They just want to fish in troubled waters.”
Hanif also urged the BNP to place its proposal in parliament, saying if its proposal was logical, the government was ready to discuss it. “A respectable solution could come this way,” he said.
