Tk 200mn allocated for opposition MPs, says BNP’s Fakhrul

This allocation has been made for mosques, cemeteries, and Eidgahs, he says

Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has informed parliament that around Tk 200 million will be allocated for the constituencies of opposition MPs.

The parliamentary session on Monday was held under the chairmanship of Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad. Leader of the Opposition Md Shafiqur Rahman was first to speak. Then Mirza Fakhrul made a statement under Rule 300.

Mirza Fakhrul had initially wanted to make a statement at the end of the session on Sunday. However, when opposition members walked out after they did not get the opportunity to speak on the point of order, he said that he would make the statement on Monday.

In that statement, the local government minister said: “For the parliament’s information, our honourable prime minister has approved around Tk 200 million from his discretionary fund for the constituencies of our opposition members, excluding city corporations.”

He said that this allocation has been made for mosques, graveyards, and Eidgahs.

When the opposition party spoke up at this time, Mirza Fakhrul said, "This is from the district council. It will be done later in the city corporations.

'I Spent 40 Years in Parliament, I Did Not Get a Penny'

After Mirza Fakhrul's statement, Speaker Hafiz said that he had been a parliamentarian for a long time and had also been a member of the opposition party, but had never received any such allocation.

He said, "I also spent 40 years in this parliament… I never received a penny. I was arrested and went to jail five times. That's all I got. Nothing else."

Thanking the leader of the opposition, the speaker said that he had highlighted various problems facing the country in the budget discussion.

"I sincerely thank the honourable leader of the opposition. He spoke for an hour on various problems of the country, shed light on the budget."

The speaker said that the leader of the opposition's speech also mentioned the problems of Bhola, but that he could not raise the problems facing his constituency while sitting in the chair.

"I cannot raise the problems of my homeland, my constituency, Bhola here because I am sitting in this chair. However, he has kindly put that in his speech to the nation."

The speaker expressed the hope that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury would “fairly” address the leader of the opposition's speech.