BNP reaffirms its stance on not going to elections with Khaleda in jail

Hours after Sheikh Hasina said ‘no one would have much to do about it if the BNP did not contest in the general elections’, the opposition party says the people ‘will not accept it’ if the Awami League government tries to hold the polls keeping Khaleda Zia out.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Monday they want to make it clear that the elections without the party chief “will not be acceptable to anyone in the country”.

“Those who want to deny this reality in fact want to kill the competition by taking the opposition out of the equation. The people won’t accept this,” he added.

At a Ganabhaban news conference in the afternoon, Prime Minister Hasina said, “We won’t be able to do anything if the BNP did go to election. The election will be held in time.”

Mirza Fakhrul told reporters at Khaleda’s Gulshan office: “The prime minister lied. She said the election would not be affected by anyone not taking part in it. She is saying this because she has experienced it."

“But the turnout in the 2014 elections was below 5 percent,” he added.

The BNP sits out of parliament after boycotting the Jan 5, 2014, election as its demand for a nonpartisan election-time government was not met.

It has stuck to the same demand with the next elections scheduled to be held by the end of this year. In the mean time, its Chairperson Khaleda has been jailed for corruption, clouding her chances to stand in the election.

The prime minister also hit out at the BNP for changing its constitution allowing convicts to retain membership of the party.

She criticised the party for making Khaleda’s son and Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman acting chief despite his being also convicted of the same charges of embezzling the orphanage funds.

Mirza Fakhrul admitted they dropped the related clause from the party’s constitution, but added, “You need to see who have handed the penalty. A court controlled by the government delivered the verdict.”

“And Tarique Rahman is automatically acting as chief following the party constitution. It’s our matter, not theirs (Awami League),” he added.