None of Oikya Front MPs to take oath

The opposition coalition of Jatiya Oikya Front on Sunday decided that the seven members of parliament (MPs) elected from the BNP and Gano Forum will not take oath.

The decision has cleared the confusion after Front leader and Gano Forum president Kamal Hossain on Saturday indicated that two Gano Forum MPs might take oath.

With this decision, it has also been ascertained that there would be no representation from the opposition camp in the 11th parliament.

General Ershad’s Jatiya Party, which has been an ally of the ruling Awami League for the past one decade, has decided to act as official opposition party in parliament.

Gano Forum general secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president ASM Abdur Rab disclosed the decision of not joining parliament taken at a meeting of the Front in Motijheel in the city on Sunday.

According to rules, if the newly elected MPs do not take oath of office, their seats will fall vacant within a certain period of time.

On 31 December, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which won 5 seats, made it clear that the opposition members would not take oath since they rejected the results of 30 December general elections.

Presided over by the Front leader, Kamal Hossain, Sunday’s meeting was also attended by the BNP secretary general, Gano Forum executive president Subrata Chowdhury, Krishak Sramik Janata League chief Abdul Kader Siddiqui, Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna and Oikya Front leader Zafarullah Chowdhury.