Dhaka, Dec 19 (bdnews24.com)—Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, between election pledges in Jessore on Friday, seemingly took a swing at BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, accusing her of being "aggrieved" after failing to come to power in 2007.
Mentioning no name, but apparently referring to recent complaints of 'election engineering' by her arch-rival, Hasina said, "She is aggrieved now because she could not assume power plotting rigging in the forestalled polls in January 2007."
"The BNP-led government enlisted more than one crore fake voters in order to engineer the cancelled election. It has been proved now," Hasina said.
She thanked the army and caretaker government for preparing "a flawless voter list".
Hasina claimed, "People got nothing under the BNP-led government as they smuggled money abroad without using it to develop the country."
The former prime minister, at a public gathering at Jessore Eidgah Maidan, pledged to tackle the much-talked about Bhabadah waterlogging problem, increase the depth in the Kopotakkha river and modernise Benapole land port.
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The AL chief canvassed for Sheikh Faisal Uddin for Jessore-1, Mostofa Faruk Ahmed for Jessore-2, Khaledur Rahman Tito for Jessore-3, Ranjit Kumar Roy for Jessore-4, Tipu Sultan for Jessore-5 and Sheikh Abdul Wahab for Jessore-6, backing them as grand alliance candidates.
In a later rally in Manikganj, Hasina sought votes for the first time for a Jatiya Party candidate in the district, canvassing for Manikganj-2 grand alliance candidate and JP leader Abdul Mannan on Friday night.
"Here we have loaded the plough onto the boat," she said mentioning the JP and AL election symbols.
"Now we want you support to go to power," the former prime minister said.
If the grand alliance is voted to power, a second bridge on the river Padma will be constructed, she also promised.
Hasina brought her south-western region tour to a close with the Manikganj rally, as she started for Dhaka at around 9:30pm.
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