Tanbir urges party to lift expulsion

Expelled BNP leader Chowdhury Tanbir Ahmed Siddiky yesterday urged the party leadership to reconsider and withdraw the decision of his expulsion from BNP for violating party discipline.
"Democracy and morality will win if the decision is withdrawn," he told journalists at his Gulshan residence.
He, however, did not allow reporters to ask him any question.
Terming the party's disciplinary action against him 'unconstitutional', he said, "According to the party constitution, I am still a member of the party as well as its standing committee.
"I shall not get into any argument although I do not know what my fault was," Tanbir said.
BNP Standing Committee on Tuesday expelled Siddiky from the party for his son Irad Siddiky's "derogatory remarks" about party Chief Khaleda Zia and a few BNP leaders in his presence.
Irad at a press conference on March 9 alleged that the BNP chairperson sought Tk 5 crore from him in return for party backing for his candidacy in the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) mayoral election.
Claiming himself as 'one of the founding fathers' of BNP, Tanbir said, "I have always been with BNP and shall remain with it ….. The decision against me has shocked the nation."
"The people who have made many objectionable and derogatory remarks against Zia family in the last two years are now in good position in the party but they [standing committee] have punished me for others' mistakes," he said.
"There is nothing to challenge the decision but the countrymen must know why I was handed down the punishment," Tanbir said.
Claiming himself as a 'clean man' and 'great organiser', he said, "Even from the political or moral point of view, they [standing committee] cannot take such a decision [expulsion] against me."