Results prove AL lacks people's support: Khaleda
Results prove AL lacks people's support: Khaleda
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia today said that through the upazila election results people have proved that they do not want to see “this illegal government in power”.
“It has been proved that the Awami League government has lost ground under its feet,” she said while addressing a rally this afternoon on Shaheed Khushi Railway ground in Rajbari district town to rejuvenate the grassroots leaders.
Calling upon the people to forge a movement to oust the government, the former prime minister warned, “If the government does not step down from power , it will be compelled to do that through a movement.”
Also leader of the BNP-led 19-party alliance, Khaleda said, “This time the movement will be successful Inshallah and the Awami League government will be ousted. The country will be saved, the people will be saved.”
The BNP chief announced that they will start a movement after reorganising the party following the upazila elections.
About the snatching of three convicted operatives of the banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh last month, Khaleda held the prime and her government responsible for the incident.
“Self-declared prime minister - Sheikh Hasina who is in-charge of the home ministry will have answer for the incident someday,” she said questioning the poor security for the top ranking militants.
Renewing her demand for immediate national election under caretaker government, she said people did not go to the polling centres in the January 5 election as they wanted it under a non-party arrangement.
Giving reasons of BNP-backed candidates’ running the upazila elections, Khaleda said, “We demanded caretaker government for holding the general elections, not local government ones, as the latter cannot change government.”
Earlier in the afternoon, the BNP chairperson reached Rajbari, reports our correspondent covering the event.
Earlier, Khaleda left her Gulshan residence in the capital around 11:00am for Rajbari.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, party Vice-chairmen Selima Rahman and Sadeque Hossain Khoka among others accompanied the BNP chairperson during her tour.
As part of her move to rejuvenate the party’s grassroots leaders through district tours, the BNP chief will address the public rally, organised by BNP-led 19-party alliance.
This will be the first public rally of Khaleda after January 5 parliamentary polls, which was boycotted by the 19-party alliance.
Earlier, Khaleda was scheduled to address a rally in Rajbari on September 29, 2012, as part of her month-long mass campaign at that time to garner public support for the restoration of the caretaker government system, UNB reports.
But later the rally was rescheduled and postponed thrice on different grounds.
With her day’s visit to Rajbari, the BNP chairperson is also initiating the district tours as per the suggestion of the party’s standing committee members to rejuvenate the party's grassroots leaders who apparently got demoralised following the party’s decision to boycott the January 5 election.
Party sources said Khaleda will also visit some other districts soon to prepare the party men and encourage them for waging a successful anti-government movement, UNB added.
Meanwhile, the recently formed 56 teams comprising the senior leaders of BNP are already visiting the party’s 75 organisational districts to revitalise their grassroots leaders and activists alongside monitoring the upazila polls.