Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the Opposition to place their proposal for discussion in the Parliament.
“Come to Parliament and talk. Please don’t go away after merely registering your attendance,” she said on Saturday, during an interaction with Awami League leaders from Chapainawabganj.
After an 83-day absence, the BNP on Friday hinted they would go back to the Parliament during the forthcoming budget session.
The Constitution stipulates that a seat in Parliament will fall vacant if the lawmaker remains absent for 90 consecutive business days.
Taking a dig at the Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia, Hasina said, “She has her own style. She comes to Parliament for a day and leaves after delivering a long speech.”
The last time the BNP chief joined Parliament proceedings, she delivered a nearly two-hour long speech and left.
“I saw in newspaper reports that if they (the Opposition) do not attend Parliament sessions, they’ll lose their seats. Already 82 days out of 90 days are gone,” Hasina said.
Prime Minister Hasina has been asking the BNP-led Opposition to place their demands in the Parliament over the dispensation they want for conducting the forthcoming national elections.
The 18-Party alliance has hit the streets in protest ever since the government annulled the caretaker government system through the 15th Constitutional Amendment. The national elections, says the BNP, will not be ‘free and fair’ unless held under a caretaker administration.
Hasina has said she has no objections to a multi-party committee for handling the polls but she is opposed to restoring the caretaker.
The Awami League alleges that the BNP-led Opposition is trying to disrupt the ongoing war crimes trials by his continuous agitation on the caretaker issue.
“We won’t let anyone play with the flow of democracy. [You] must shun killings and violence, otherwise, we know how to tackle them,” Hasina warned.
source: Bd news24