BNP to join upazila polls: Fakhrul

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday said their party has decided to join the upcoming upazila parishad elections with its symbol, reports UNB.

He said the decision was taken at a meeting of BNP standing committee members at its chairperson’s Gulshan office.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the BNP leader said, “Elections to eight upazila parishads will be held on 14 October. We’ve taken a decision to participate in the polls with our party symbol.”

After the 30-December national election, the party announced not to take part in any polls under the current government and the election commission, but the party has now backed off from its previous stance.

About the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Indian state of Assam that excluded of about 19 million applicants, mostly Bengali-speaking people, Fakhrul said the Indian ruling party leaders are trying to brand the left-out people as Bangladeshis.

“We think they (BJP leaders) are making such comments with an ulterior motive. We strongly denounce and protest their assertions. But it it’s regrettable that the government is silent over the matter,” he said.

Fakhrul voiced their party’s serious concern over the India leaders’ remarks and demanded an explanation from the government on the issue. “The government should let people know about the matter instead of keeping them in the dark.”

He opposed the government’s move to bring the surplus money of different autonomous, semi-autonomous and statutory agencies to the national exchequer, and said it will create many problems.

“The move has exposed that the government has also become bankrupt financially” the BNP leader observed.

Apart from Fakhrul, BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Moudud Ahmed, Jamiruddin Sircar, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku were present at the meeting.