The BNP has accused the government of oppressing the opposition out of desperation after losing the first phase of the ongoing Upazila elections.
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BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi made the allegation while addressing a press conference at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters in the city on Monday, hours after a Rajshahi court sent Rajshahi City Corporation Mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul and BNP Joint Secretary General Mizanur Rahman Minu to jail in a case pertaining to the killing of a policeman.
“The ruling party has become desperate after the victory of the opposition-supported candidates in the first phase of the Upazila polls. They are now desperately repressing the opposition leaders and activists to hold a unilateral second phase of Upazila elections.”
The second phase of elections to 117 Upazilas Parishads will be held on Feb 27.
Candidates of the BNP-led 19-Party Alliance won 56 Upazila chairman’s posts last week, while the ruling party won 33 posts.
Rizvi said that the bail petitions of as many as 36 BNP leaders and activists, including Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul and Mizanur Rahman Minu, were rejected due to political reasons to ‘vitiate’ the atmosphere of the Upazila elections.
The BNP leader said that Bulbul and Minu who got bail from the High Court in police constable Siddhartha Chandra Sarkar murder case in early January appeared before the lower court to seek bail on Monday, but the court sent them to jail by rejecting their bail appeals.
Police constable Siddhartha Chandra Sarkar sustained splinter injuries after alleged BNP-Jamaat men hurled a bomb at a patrol police van in Rajarhata area of Rajshahi city on Dec 26 last year. He later succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Combined Military Hospital.
Rizvi claimed that the activists of the ruling Awami League, assisted by the law enforcing agencies, were harassing the opposition leaders and activists in Manikganj Sadar Upazila, Gangni Upazila in Meherpur district, Mirpur Upazila in Kushtia district, Comilla Sadar Upazila (south), Gopalganj Sadar Upazila and Parshuram Upazila in Feni district.
Condemning the incidents he warned the government that opposition would be left with no other option but to resort to agitation if such harassment continues.
Terming ‘mysterious’ the incident of setting free three convicted JMB militants by bombing a police prison van and killing a police personnel in Mymensingh, he said: “There’s a doubt whether the incident is a drama to divert the attention of the people and international organisations from the Upazila polls”.
Source: Bd news24