No plan to sit with BNP now: Quader

The ruling Awami League has no immediate plan to hold any dialogue with the BNP over the issue of a caretaker government, as dialogues with the BNP before the last general elections were not fruitful, AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader has said. 

"They [BNP leaders] thought that the Awami League would call them for dialogue. We are not thinking about dialogue," he said while addressing, as the chief guest, a discussion in front of Awami League's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital on Thursday.

The discussion was organised by the Dhaka South unit Awami League marking the historic Six-Point Day.

Quader, also the minister for road, transport and bridges, was quoted by the BSS as saying, "We remember what happened before the last general elections; we held dialogue with them [BNP] twice. What was the result? There was no result. There will be no dialogue with the party [BNP], if they raise the condition of the neutral government".

Mentioning that the BNP had fallen into its own trap after placing complaints to its foreign masters, he said, "They [BNP leaders] got a visa policy from the US instead of sanctions on Bangladesh". 

"There is nothing to be worried about the visa policy. Who will be given visa and who will not, it is a matter of that country [the US]," the AL general secretary said. 

He said the visa policy will be applied against those who will disrupt the elections.

About dialogue with the BNP, Quader said that as they [BNP leaders] want dialogue only for nomination trade, the government is not thinking of holding dialogue with them.

Pointing to BNP Secretary General Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the AL general secretary said the Supreme Court, not the Awami League, scrapped the caretaker government system. 

"There is a constitution and an election commission in the country, so there is no reason to be worried about the elections," added Quader. 

"Foreign friends want fair elections and we will do that. The BNP wants to dissolve the parliament, which does not happen anywhere in the world. They [BNP leaders] want the government's fall," he said further.

"The BNP has swallowed democracy, and the electoral system. They have swallowed the values of the Liberation War. The country is not safe in their hands," Quader warned.

Regarding the ongoing electricity crisis in the country, he urged people to put their trust in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, expressing his optimism that the crisis will be over within 10-15 days.