Govt will have to go for interim polls: Mirza Fakhrul

After threatening a stringent post-Eid movement and then going for a rather ‘soft’ agitation, the BNP now says the government will have to go for interim polls ‘much before’ 2019.

“Whatever the government says, they will have to sit for talks. A credible poll has to be given way before 2019, where all parties can participate,” senior BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said

The party’s acting secretary general was speaking at a ‘Meet the Press’ event by the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity on Wednesday.

“The government believes they will be in power illegally until 2019 after the voter-less Jan 5 polls. The people did not accept that election neither did the international community,” he told the discussion.

The BNP has called for a national election under a non-party government after it boycotted the Jan 5 polls, while the government has rejected it repeatedly.

Ruling Awami League leaders have asked the BNP to wait for five years and said a movement would not yield any result.

Top BNP leaders have been threatening an intense agitation after the Eid.

But after ruling Awami League leaders said they would face it, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia promised that would be ‘orderly’.

On Aug 12, the party-led alliance announced a fresh round of agitation --processions, mass contact and rallies et al.

About opting for a rather ‘soft’ programme, Mirza Fakhrul said on Wednesday: “The movement will intensify in phases, just like automobiles are accelerated by shifting from first gear to third year. We believe the movement will be in its top gear as soon as the people take to the streets for an election.”