No phone call to Khaleda
India's Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah has denied having any phone conversation with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
According to Bangladesh's official news agency BSS, Amit Shah rejected BNP's claim that he had called Khaleda and inquired about her health on Wednesday night.
The BJP chief told BSS over the phone that he never talked to Khaleda, the agency reported from New Delhi yesterday.
The BNP, however, stuck to its claim. Party chairperson's Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan in a fresh statement yesterday said he was present when Khaleda talked to Amit Shah over the telephone from her Gulshan office.
The Daily Star tried many times to reach the BJP president over his mobile phone , but none answered.
Two private TV channels, however, reported that the BJP leader, when contacted, said the news of the phone call was fake.
The phone call controversy got a new dimension after it was proved that a fraudulent statement on Bangladesh politics was run by some media in the name of US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman along with five members of the US Congress.
The International Business Times (IBTimes UK) yesterday made it clear that it received the fraudulent statement from a senior aide to Khaleda's son and BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, now in London.
A day ago, stepping into the debate over the reported phone call, the ruling Awami League slammed the BNP saying the conversation never took place and it was nothing but a lie.
Private television channels Ekattor TV and Channel 24 in their breaking news and news bulletins yesterday said they talked with Amit Shah over his phone. The phone conversations, said to be between the BJP boss and TV stations, were also aired.
Asked by Ekattor whether he talked to Khaleda, a voice purportedly of Amit Shah replied in English: “No. No. This is fake news. There was no call from our side.”
The TV channel claimed to have got Amit after 20 hours of frantic efforts.
In the Channel 24 news, a voice was heard saying there was no call to Khaleda from his side and “it's totally a rumour.”
In a statement last night, Maruf Kamal Khan said as per the information they gathered from those close to Amit Shah, the BJP chief didn't have time to give interview to any Bangladeshi media as he was very busy in electioneering and his party's recruitment.
It was Maruf who at a press conference on Thursday said Amit Shah called Khaleda at 10:30pm on Wednesday and inquired about her physical condition.
In last night's statement, Maruf said what he had told the media was hundred percent correct.
“In the wake of some media reports aimed at proving wrong my information about the telephone conversation, I want to reiterate firmly that the information given by me is hundred percent correct.”
He said the telephone conversation between the chiefs of two major parties of the two neighboring countries took place in his presence.
The BNP chief's press secretary urged all to refrain from diverting people's attention from the country's persisting serious issues.
He also hoped that the controversy over the conversation between the two leaders will end with his statement.
Our New Delhi correspondent added that BJP spokesmen in India were tight-lipped over the phone call controversy.
"How can I comment on an issue for which I have not been authorised to say either by the party chief or the party", said a leader who requested anonymity.
However, a mid-level BJP leader said it is impossible that Shah, an astute politician, would talk to the opposition leader of a foreign country at a juncture when that country is passing through political turmoil.
Earlier, according to a report of India's leading Anandabazar Patrika yesterday BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad during his briefing on January 7, the day Amit and Khaleda reportedly talked, spoke on a variety of issues but did not say anything on the reported telephone conversation.
The Anandabazar Patrika said the Indian high commission in Dhaka drew the attention of the Indian external affairs ministry to the phone conversation issue.
Quoting Indian diplomatic sources, Anandabazar said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj herself wanted to know the fact from Amit Shah. Amit informed that he did not make any such phone call. Rather, BNP side called twice at his office. But there was no conversation as Amit was outside Delhi.
FRAUDULENT STATEMENT
Meanwhile, the IBTimes UK has withdrawn the fake press statement and ran a report headlined “US Foreign Affairs Committee blasts 'fraudulent' statement on Bangladesh”.
The report, which contained the group's official statement condemning the fraudulence, also named Tarique Rahman's aide Humayun Kabir.
“The IBTimes UK ran the 'fraudulent' release [on January 8] after being sent the document (found below) from a senior aid to Tarique Rahman, the senior vice chairman of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),” according to the news report.
“But Humaiun Kobir told IBTimes UK that his party has since launched an investigation, which is ongoing, after the House Foreign Affairs Committee released its statement.”
Humaiun said the episode was "embarrassing" but did not comment further on the matter, citing the ongoing investigation, it added.
IBTimes UK contacted the House Foreign Affairs Committee for further comment but was referred to the group's official statement.
"Though the Committee and many Members of Congress continue to monitor the political situation in Bangladesh, the Committee did not – and the Members did not – issue any such statement. It is unacceptable that any party would seek to use a fraudulent press statement from the US Congress to advance their political goals," read the committee's statement.
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