Opposition BNP on Monday night said they will not participate in the next general election under the reconstituted cabinet terming it ‘a one-party administration of the Awami League-led grand alliance’.
“It’s nothing but a one-party cabinet of the grand alliance. We want to unequivocally say the opposition will not join the election under such a cabinet,” said BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
He came up with the opposition’s formal reaction to the reshuffled cabinet while addressing a press conference at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.
Earlier in the day, six ministers and two junior ministers were sworn in as part of the process to form a much-talked-about election-time cabinet to oversee the next general election without opposition BNP and three other parties having representation to parliament.
Fakhrul observed that the reconstitution of the cabinet in the name of an all-party administration will not help find a solution to the ongoing political crisis.
Disapproving the just-formed polls-time cabinet, he said, ”Someone is calling it as an all-party administration while some others election-time interim government. We think it’s nothing but a reconstitution of the old cabinet.”
He said the present cabinet cannot be an all-party administration as four parties, including the main opposition BNP, having representation in parliament are absent in it.
Reiterating his party’s position about the next polls, the BNP leader said, “We want a free, fair and credible election with the participation of all. But a fair and impartial election is not possible under the current cabinet as it won’t be able to create a level-paying field for all.”
Fakhrul warned that the country will be pushed towards violence and the future of democracy will be uncertain if the government tries to hold a unilateral election.
He also said lopsided polls will not be acceptable to the country’s people and the international community. “This will be considered as stage-managed polls.”
Justifying their ongoing movement, Fakhrul said they together with people will carry out their movement in a peaceful manner to force the government to arrange the next general election under a non-party administration.
The BNP spokesperson said Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia will meet President Abdul Hamid on Tuesday evening. She will lead a 20-member delegation of the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance.
Earlier, Khaleda sat at a meeting with the top leaders of her party and alliance at her political office in Gulshan at 8pm discussed her scheduled meeting with the President and the reconstitution of the cabinet.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Vice chairmen Abdullah Al Noman and Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, BNP chairperson’s advisers Mahmudul Hasan and Abdul Mannan, joint secretaries general Aman Ullah Aman, Barkat Ullah Bulu, Salauddin Ahmed, organizing secretary Fazlul Haque Milon, opposition chief whip Zainal Abedin Farroque were, among others, present at the meeting.
Later, top leaders of the 18-party, including LDP president Oli Ahmed, BJP chairman Andalib Rahman Partha, Kalyan Party Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, met Khaleda.
Source: UNB Connect
