BNP’s joining won’t give ‘legitimacy to 11th JS’
BNP joined the House to gain democratic space, but it will not give legitimacy to the current parliament, the party lawmakers said yesterday.
The 11th parliament was formed through an “unacceptable” election, they said, while taking part in a discussion on the supplementary budget for 2018-19 in parliament.
“The Election Commission has failed to hold a credible election (in December 2018). They have destroyed parliamentary election as well as local government election,” said Harunur Rashid. “And joining of six BNP MPs will not give legitimacy to this parliament.”
Harun said, “There is no democratic space for us. We cannot express our demands. The Awami League and the grand alliance are allowed to hold rallies with fanfare, but when we want to do it the question of permission gets in the way.
“BNP joined parliament also to restore good governance. I urge the leader of the House to hold a national dialogue with all political parties to ensure good governance.”
Echoing Harun, BNP lawmaker Rumeen Farhana said, “We came here to speak for the people and our party.”
Alleging that all 300 constituencies were looted in the last election, Rumeen urged the Awami League lawmakers to swear by god whether they were elected by direct votes.
Turning to financial matters, she said the Awami League government has failed to implement budgets since it took over in 2009. “Bad loans amount to Tk 1.1 lakh crore now. The figure would hit Tk 1.55 lakh crore if the written-off loans of this year was taken into account.
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