Kolkata newspaper ‘Ei Samay’ interview on Fakhrul ‘blatantly false,’ says BNP

The party denounces the article published under the headline “Fakhrul wants Awami League and Jatiya Party in elections”

The BNP has denounced an interview published in Kolkata’s Bengali daily Ei Samay under the headline “Fakhrul wants Awami League and Jatiya Party in elections,” as “blatantly false and fabricated”.

In a statement issued by Taiful Islam Tipu, the party’s joint office secretary, on Wednesday, the BNP said the report was entirely baseless.

“Recently, a baseless news item has been published that BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir gave an interview to Kolkata's Bengali daily newspaper Ei Samay,” the statement read.

“An interview with him was published in that newspaper yesterday under the headline ‘Fakhrul wants Awami League and Jatiya Party in elections’ which is blatantly false and fabricated.”

The party added that Fakhrul had not given an interview to any foreign media in recent days.

It described the report as a “fabricated interview” intended to tarnish both the BNP and its secretary general.

“The purpose of this fabricated statement is to create doubt and suspicion in the minds of the people of Bangladesh,” the statement said.

“There is no chance for the people of the country and party leaders and workers to be confused about the untrue statement published by this newspaper (Ei Samay).”

Fakhrul is currently in New York, accompanying Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus at the United Nations General Assembly session.