National economy will strengthen if BNP forms government, says Mirza Fakhrul

The party has prior experience in building a democratic and economically viable state, he says

Under the changed political circumstances in the country, there is a new “trend” of joining the BNP, says Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

He made the comment to reporters at the joining ceremony of economist Reza Kibria, the son of former finance minister Shah MS Kibria, at the BNP Chairperson's Office in Gulshan on Monday.

When asked about his perspective on many people at the Upazila level joining the BNP, Fakhrul said: “Many people are joining the BNP. It has become a trend to join the BNP now.”

Explaining the reason, Fakhrul said: “People think that the BNP is the only party that can create a real democratic environment and strengthen the national economy when it forms the government.”

Regarding Reza’s joining the BNP, Fakhrul said: "On behalf of my party's Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, I welcome him to our party."

"We are hopeful that Dr Reza Kibria will further strengthen our activities. His joining will have an impact across the country."

"Based on his past experience, he (Kibria) will contribute to strengthening Tarique Rahman's hand in rebuilding Bangladesh."

The BNP secretary general said, “You are aware that we have announced many programmes under the leadership of Tarique Rahman. We have struggled for 15 years under his leadership. If the people in Bangladesh support us, we want to build a democratic and economically solvent state in Bangladesh under his leadership.”

“We have prior experience in building such a state. Earlier, we formed the government three times and our late president Ziaur Rahman ran the state. From our experience, we can say that—if BNP gets the responsibility of running the government, it will be able to establish a truly democratic and prosperous economy.”

In the 2018 elections, Reza contested the Habiganj-1 constituency (Bahubal-Nabinagar) under the paddy sheaf symbol as a member of the Jukto Front alliance.