‘Gopalganj won’t exist'

An angry BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has admonished security personnel posted in front of her Gulshan residence after having failed to leave her house to go to Naya Paltan, where the BNP had scheduled a rally on Sunday.

The BNP chief also threatened to change the name of Gopalganj, the ancestral home of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, if she ever came to power.

The Opposition Leader spoke to reporters in the compound of her house and she was particularly furious with a woman security staff, apparently hailing from Gopalganj.

“Are you Gopali? We will change the name of Gopalganj. Gopalganj will not exist any longer,” she thundered.

Khaleda asked the security forces to maintain neutrality. “There is no use being Hasina's sycophants. Stay with the country and the people. You are supposed to be on the street, why are you in the house?" she asked the personnel posted around her residence.

She demanded that she be allowed to talk to an officer when women police personnel refused to let her leave the building compound.

Khaleda stepped out of her car soon afterwards after having waited for about an hour from 3.45 pm. She was seen with the national flag.

She waved to media persons waiting opposite her residence, and then spoke to the policemen.

Protocol police detailed for the Opposition Leader were seen since morning, though the BNP alleged they had been withdrawn.

Police did not allow the BNP to hold Sunday’s rally in front of the party’s Naya Paltan office.

BNP Vice Chairman Hafizuddin Ahmed had said on Saturday that the rally would commence on Sunday morning and Khaleda Zia would be there at any time.

Khaleda Zia, in a video message on Friday, had asked the party followers to continue with the rally even if she was unable to attend it for some reason.

She had also urged her followers carry on the movement until the government stepped down.