No party to participate in polls without neutral govt: Nazrul

BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said BNP and other political parties will not participate in the polls without the election-time neutral government.

"We want an election-time neutral government under which the election would be held. We will form a people’s government after winning the election," he hoped.      

The BNP leader came up with this remark on Friday while addressing a rally at Shashanghat area in the capital's Lalbagh, organised by Dhaka city BNP south unit, protesting the countrywide load-shedding and the soaring prices of fuels and the daily essentials.     

From around 2:00pm, the leaders and activists of the BNP started gathering in a field in the Shashanghat area from different parts of Dhaka city. However, no participants were seen wielding sticks and iron rods as they did it some previous rallies.  

When asked about the issue, several activists said their senior leaders asked them not to carry any type of sticks while coming to the rally. Thousands joined the demonstration Friday.  

In his speech as the chief guest, Nazrul Islam said, "BNP has decided not to take part in the polls to be held under this illegal, fascist, repressive and killer government. We held discussions with other political parties. We all have reached this consensus."

Urging the government to allow people to exercise their franchise, he asked the ruling party to step down and dissolve the ‘illegal’ parliament. People will decide who will come to power, he added.

He said they (BNP) have no demand to the government as it wants to stay in power by any means.

As the government is not elected by the people, it won’t give people anything, he added.