Quader dares Khaleda to stop general elections

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has thrown an open challenge to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, asking her to stop the next parliamentary elections if they have the capability.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 5 Jan 2018, 05:04 PM
Updated : 5 Jan 2018, 06:06 PM

Khaleda recently remarked that there would no elections in Bangladesh if her party is not part of the mix.

"You may resist if you have the capacity. The people under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina will rise to any such resistance," Quader told a meeting titled 'Democracy Preservation Day' on Friday at the Banani playground in the capital.

"Khaleda Zia said there would be no election without the BNP. Wait and see. The elections will be held as per the Constitution. Come and join the elections," Quader said.

Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the year 2018 will belong to their party chief.

"It will be a year of Khaleda Zia and the BNP. The year will bring victory for the BNP," he told the audience at a discussion organised on Jan 5, the day the BNP observes as ‘Murder of Democracy Day’.

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir

At a separate meeting in the capital, BNP Standing Committee member Moudud Ahmed said they would draw up anti-government programme at an opportune moment to topple this government.

The BNP and its allies boycotted the national election in 2014 demanding a caretaker government to supervise it.

Khaleda at a programme on Tuesday reiterated the demand for a polls-time facilitating government and said "there will be no elections in the country without the BNP”.

The 11th parliamentary elections will be held later this year or early next year when the current parliament completes its tenure.

Khaleda had told the Tuesday rally:  “We are an election-oriented party. We must take part in elections. No one can keep us out of the polls even if they want to. We will join the election.”

Quader on Friday said, "If the BNP boycotts the elections again, it will have to observe 'political suicide day' (from next year)."

He said the BNP had been threatening the government for a long time but has failed to launch an organised movement.

Later in the afternoon, at a separate rally at Bangabandhu Avenue, Quader said, "The BNP activists are disgruntled because their leaders do not come out in the street after announcing the agitation programmes."

At another Jan 5 meeting at the National Press Club, BNP leader Moudud Ahmed said, "The Awami League will never negotiate. The only alternative is to take to the street. We have to force the government through a mass movement into holding an election under a non-partisan government."

He said his party would announce the agitation programmes when the time is right.

"The year 2014 and year 2018 are not the same. We will have all the preparations for the elections. We will take part in the elections but not under a party government," he cautioned.

The former law minister asked the party leaders and activists to get ready for it.