The second day of the 10th Jatiya Sangsad, which in practice is the first day for parliamentary business, saw the absence of opposition Leader Rawshan Ershad and front bench government ministers.
In the absence of Local Government Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, who was scheduled to answer MPs’ questions, his deputy Mashiur Rahman Ranga told lawmakers: “Please, come to my office to have some tea; we will take the necessary measures.”
In reply Shamim Osman, an Awami League MP, offered Local Government Minister Syed Ashraful Islam and Moshiur Rahman tea and coffee in his constituency in Narayanganj, to witness the poor condition of the roads there.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Deputy Leader of the house Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, and Begum Matia Chowdhury turned up in time for the House to start its business.
Two independent MPs spoke, praising Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for holding the January 5 poll. The House started its business at 4.37pm, with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.
Independent MP Rustom Ali Farazi was the first to raise a question for Local Government Minister Syed Ashraful Islam. State Minister Mashiur Rahman Ranga took to the floor to answer to the question on his behalf.
Instead of reading out the printed script, the state minister appealed to accept the script as “read out.” Speaker Chaudhury asked him to read it out.
As per the parliamentary rules, Farazi got a chance to ask a supplementary question. He asked the minister whether local government would take measures to improve the roads in his constituency, Mothbaria, Pirojpur.
Awami League MPs Enamul Haque, Golam Dastagir Gazi, Shamsul Hoque Chowdhury, Moslem Uddin, AKM Jahangir Hossain, Hazi Selim, Shawkat Chowdhury, Yeasin Ali, Habibur Rahman Mollah and Shamim Osman also posed questions for the Local Government ministry.
Ranga answered most questions by urging the MPs to come to his office with letters, and to have tea or coffee, so that he could take any necessary measures, in consultation with the minister.
Sitting just two metres away from Ranga, Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon of the Workers’ Party started laughing at the way the state minister was answering the questions. Ranga was also seen laughing.
Before posing his question on the poor condition of roads in his constituency of Ranga, Shamim Osman said: “I hope the (state) minister will not request me to have a coffee at his office…rather I request the honourable minister and him [Ranga] to come to my area to have tea or coffee, or lunch, and witness the condition of the roads.”
Ranga then said: “Maybe the honourable member does not like tea or coffee; I could instead entertain him with lachchhi. I will go to his area.”
Absence of senior MPs
At the beginning, out of the total 29 seats, 11 MPs, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, were present the front row. Kazi Feroz Rashid was the only MP on the opposition benches.
Anisul Islam Mahmud, Ziauddin Ahmed, Rashed Khan Menon, Anwar Hossain Manju, Tofail Ahmed, Rahmat Ali, AMA Muhith, Mohammad Nasim and Ruhul Amin Hawlader joined the House.
After the Maghrib prayer recess, many of the senior MPs left the House.
Twelve MPs including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stayed at the assembly until the end of the sitting.
The House had a more than one-and-half-hour-long unscheduled discussion on the 10-truck arms case. The chair, Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi, suspended the scheduled notice of public importance. At the direction of Chief Whip ASM Feroz, the House started the discussion on the president’s parliamentary address.
The House will resume at 4.30pm today.
