Khaleda losing ground: Hasina

Khaleda Zia is losing ground but is threatening to bring down the government through agitation, says Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"I hear the BNP chief is threatening to bring down our government by a massive agitation," said Hasina on Friday at an Awami League Central Working Committee meeting. "But the reality is she is losing ground faster than she realises."

The BNP chairperson threatened at a Nilphamari rally on Thursday that her party would resort to a huge agitation to topple the Awami League-led government unless it made way for interim polls at the earliest.

"We know how to achieve our objective," she had threatened.

Hasina's retort: "If people of Bangladesh live in peace, she (Khaleda) is unhappy."

The Awami League chief recounted the ferocity of the Opposition movement last year before the Jan 5 general election.

"We have seen how terrible it was."

And then she warned: "Anyone trying to harm the people of Bangladesh will be resisted with all our might."

Hasina appealed to the people to 'single out those behind the mayhem and the killings'.

"We will not allow any breakdown of law and order."

And then Hasina said: "Peace is a must for economic uplift. Our per capita income at $1190 has already touched that of some middle-income country."

The prime minister claimed the number of poor is coming down sharply and more of them are graduating to middle class.

She rubbished Khaleda's allegation of growing impoverishment while some get rich when she said: "Fifty million poor have graduated to middle class while many rich have dropped down to middle class."

Hasina said Bangladesh's success in winning the top post in IPU and CPU was 'historic'.

"And the only people who are not happy are these people who believe in illegal takeover of power."

The Awami League chief also said: "Khaleda thunders against corruption in rallies but avoids coming to courts when her corruption-related cases come up."