Govt has started drama on Khaleda issue: Fakhrul
The BNP leader says Awami League has already ended up in ICU after being politically bankrupt
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the government has started drama over whether the party's Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is now out of jail after being convicted in graft cases, can do politics or not.
Fakhrul commented that the recent statements by several ruling Awami League leaders, which suggest there is no bar for Khaleda to do politics, are to mislead people ahead of the next parliamentary election amid a raging anti-government campaign.
"Why is the government now showing so much love for her? Khaleda Zia will resume politics whenever she wants," said the top BNP leader on Monday, as the 77-year-old BNP chief went to the hospital for a regular health check-up yesterday.
Khaleda, who twice was the prime minister of Bangladesh, has been suffering from various old age complications, including arthritis, diabetes, and dental and eye problems for years. After her release from prison in 2020 by executive order on humanitarian grounds, she visited the hospital multiple times.
Accompanied by personal physician AZM Zahid Hossain and several top party leaders, the BNP chief on Monday left her Gulshan residence at 4pm for Evercare Hospital in the capital. BNP Media Cell Member Shahrul Kabir Khan said she would return home after the regular health check-up.
Referring to Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader's remark on the previous day that BNP will end up in the intensive care unit if the party does not come to the next parliamentary poll, Fakhrul said, "Not BNP, rather Awami League has already gone to ICU after being politically bankrupt."
At a programme at the Jatiya Press Club, the top BNP leader said the Awami League itself is the "master of arson", and the government's attempt to put the arson blame on the BNP will not be useful this time. The anti-government campaign will proceed in an orderly manner.
"This government has no accountability to the people. In 2014, 154 Awami League candidates were made members of Parliament uncontested," he said.
Fakhrul said the government must step down after handing over the power to a non-partisan poll-time caretaker government and that is the only goal of the BNP.
He also demanded reform to the Election Commission for arranging a free and fair poll so that people can practice their voting franchise "fairly" and elect a new government.
Addressing the ruling party, Fakhrul said, "Why are you afraid to hold elections under a neutral caretaker government? Because you know very well that if fair elections are held under a neutral government, you will lose security deposits after failing to secure the minimum votes."