'Will neither forge alliance with AL nor BNP' 5454

Fair election has never been held under a ruling party in Bangladesh, so a neutral polls-time government is a must for the upcoming national election, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) President Mujahidul Islam Selim said yesterday.

Speaking at a rally of CPB in front of Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka, he urged the current government to hand over power to a polls-time one by dissolving the existing parliament, and to reform the Election Commission (EC).

Selim, also a leader of Left Democratic Alliance, a coalition of eight left-leaning parties, said the government should amend the country's constitution in this regard if necessary.

“The ruling party men give the excuse of constitution [regarding the polls-time government] instead of amending it,” he said, alleging that Awami League leaders themselves violate the constitution.

“Such a situation has been created ahead of the election that people are not sure if they will be able to vote freely. Election has turned into a farce now.

“…We cannot accept it,” said Selim.

The CPB president said they will neither forge alliance with AL nor BNP for the 11th national election, to be held in December this year.

“We want the end of the misrule of AL. Bringing the end of the current misrule, we cannot bring back another one [BNP],” said Selim.

Terming the AL and BNP “dengue” and “chikungunya”, he said contracting chikungunya after curing dengue is not a wise decision. “We want to say that neither dengue nor chikungunya will remain.”

Selim said the country is going through an “extremely anarchical situation”. The people of Bangladesh will not accept the conspiracy of “robbing” democracy as done before, he said.

He urged people of the country to unite in resisting AL's misrule.

He also expressed concerns over controlling the mass media, suppressing freedom of expression and not allowing the opposition parties to hold their political activities, like rallies and processions.

CPB General Secretary Shah Alam and central leader Ruhin Hossain Prince, among others, also spoke at the programme

After the rally, CPB brought a procession which marched a number of roads.