BNP to join PM’s dialogue if election cancellation made agenda

Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which rejected the 30 December parliamentary polls, may join the talks reportedly initiated by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, if demand for cancellation of the election results is made the agenda.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir raised the demand on Monday in response to the prime minister’s overture to the opposition that held talks with her before the general elections won by her party but plagued by allegations of rigging.

“We’ll consider joining such a dialogue only if the issue of cancellation of election results is included as the key agenda,” the BNP leader told newsmen after offering fatefa at the shrine of Hazrat Shah Jajal (R) in Sylhet city.

Ruling Awami League’s general secretary and road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday said premier and AL president Sheikh Hasina would invite the political parties with which she held talks before the elections to her official residence Ganabhaban for talks again.

Asked about such gesture, Mirza Fakhruul, also spokesperson of the opposition coalition of Jatiya Oikya Front, said the opposition is not aware of the agenda of the talks.

“If the talks are held the way it was held last time, it will not be fruitful. We have only one agenda - parliament must be dissolved to pave the way for a free and fair election under a caretaker government,” the BNP leader stated.

The AL and its allies won 288 seats out of 299 seats in parliament constituted through the 30 December ballot.

“The people’s mandate was robbed the way a robbery is committed,” Mirza Fakhrul said dismissing the possibility of accepting such elections.

Terming the 11th parliamentary election a black chapter in the country’s history, he alleged that a tyrant government has snatched away the rights of the people.

Asked if the BNP and its allies would participate in the upcoming upazila elections, the BNP leader said these local government elections are not significant since they do not change any government.

“The election commission has proven in the parliamentary elections how unqualified they are in conducting a free and fair election,” he added.

Oikya Front leaders, Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Janata League president Abdul Kader Siddiqui, Gano Forum leaders Subrata Chowdhury and Mostafa Mohsin Montu and local leaders of the BNP were present there.