Obaidul Quader suggests BNP to prepare for next parliamentary election

Governing Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader has advised the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to take preparations for the next parliamentary elections from now instead of thinking about waging a movement.

The AL leader said this during a joint meeting of the party at its central office in the capital Friday morning.

Responding to a statement of the BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Obaidul Quader said, “Mirza Fakhrul has once again started daydreaming immediately after coming out of jail.”

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who walked out of Dhaka central jail on Thursday on bail, said the movement to ‘restore the right to vote’ will continue.

He came out of jail after three and a half months.

You cannot find substantial reasons for waging a movement if a pro-people government is in power, said Obaidul Quader, also road transport and bridges minister. “BNP should realise that you cannot find any issue to wage a movement if a pro-people government is in power.”

At the beginning of the joint meeting, the ruling party leader spoke about Bangladesh’s presence at the Munich security conference.

He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has brought a huge honour for Bangladesh by joining this conference. “Today, the democratic world has accepted the importance of Bangladesh without any hesitation.”

“Bangladesh’s geostrategic location is a fertile ground for drawing enmity. Many have hawkish eyes on the Bay of Bengal and Saint Martin’s Island. But the government of Sheikh Hasina has taken the balanced diplomacy towards success,” the bridges minister stated at the meeting.

The AL leader also informed the divisional leaders, tasked to mitigate infighting, about the party president’s order to constitute new committees, including the associate bodies, through conferences in areas where the tenure of existing committees have ended soon.