Awami League leader Abdul Latif Siddique has done a grossly wicked job by ranting against the Hajj, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.
Published : 12 Oct 2014, 09:34 PM
Hasina, also the ruling party chief, told Awami League's Central Working Committee meeting on Sunday that this made her to drop Siddique from Cabinet.
The Cabinet issued a gazette notification only hours before the meeting removing the Awami League leader from his Cabinet berth.
“When Hajj is on and Bangladesh is making such a nice arrangement to facilitate Hajj pilgrimage, when the president is in Hajj, such snide remarks of one of our party members are unacceptable,” she said.
“The moment I came to know about it, I took the decision. I had instructed to prepare the file. The Cabinet Division was ready with the file.
“After the cabinet secretary returned from the Hajj yesterday (Saturday), I sat with him. Along with him, I went to the President. After he signed the file, the gazette notification was issued.”
All the constitutional procedures were followed in dismissing Latif Siddique, the prime minister said.
“We were compelled to take the decision because (his remarks) have hurt the religious sentiments of every Muslim.”
Highlighting her party’s stand on religious issues, she said, “Our Awami League leaders and functionaries are most religious. They are the ones who pray the most. Number of Hajjis is also the highest in our party.”