Khaleda asks Prime Minister Hasina to learn from Cameron and resign

In what was obviously a misplaced analogy, BNP chief Khaleda Zia this evening urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign through emulating British Premier David Cameron.

The former prime minister’s advice came on Monday, three days after Cameron announced that he would step down by October as the UK had voted to leave the European Union.

Cameron had led the Remain campaign over the EU. The Leave campaign won the referendum on Jun 23 by over 17 million votes to the Remain camp’s 16 million.

Speaking at an Iftar programme at the Ladies’ Club in the city, Khaleda said, “We would like to urge the Awami League government to quit. See what is happening in the UK and learn from them.”

She alleged that the government, elected through what she called illegitimate polls, was clinging to power by force.

The BNP boycotted the 10th general election in January 2014 when its demand for the polls to be held under a non-party caretaker government was brushed aside by the ruling Awami League.

While drawing attention to Bangladesh’s Westminster-style system of government, Khaleda Zia reiterated her party’s demand for snap polls under a caretaker administration.

“Let’s hold a free and fair election. We are ready to accept whoever is elected in the polls,” she said.

The Agriculturists Association of Bangladesh, the pro-BNP forum of agriculturists, hosted the Iftar.

The former prime minister claimed that Bangladesh’s agriculture sector was going through a bad patch and blamed the Awami League government for the situation.