More time for movement: Khaleda

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia said her party organisation has to be restored to shape before it could start a fresh campaign against the government.

Earlier, she had warned an intense agitation after the recent Upazila polls.

“The party needs revamping. I will hit the streets once our organisation has been strengthened," she told an event on Saturday.

But Khaleda said the government must organise fresh parliament elections.

“There is still time. A dialogue should be started and fresh polls must be organised under a neutral poll-time dispensation,” she said.

She claimed the government was ruthlessly suppressing the opposition.

“You’ll be responsible for the consequences if you chose to further delay the polls.”

Khaleda has steadfastly refused to accept the Jan 5 parliamentary election which her party and allies boycotted, describing it as a 'sham' perpetrated by the Awami League to stay in power at all cost.

Addressing an event organised by the Dhaka Metropolitan unit of the Jatiyatabadi Shramik Dal, Khaleda said it was not true that the BNP had pulled out of the agitation.

"We are preparing for it. We must get the right people in the organisation, the one who can put nation before self and take enormous risks," she said. "We need people who can stay on the streets until success of the movement to head our committees."

Shramik Dal, the labour affiliate of the BNP, had organised their event at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh auditorium in the capital on Saturday.

Khaleda said all affiliates of the BNP and the main party organisation would be revamped to 'put capable and committed leaders in charge' and 'not go by considerations of family influence'.

"If the illegal government does not step down, we will bring it down through people's movement. But that will take some time," she said.

She said the Upazila Parishad polls have made it clear there can be no fair poll in Bangladesh with the Awami League in power.

Khaleda lashed out at Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad describing him as a 'traitor and a fraud'.