In a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen sought steps to bring the BNP to the polls. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir described the incident as a ploy by foreigners to the Awami League.
Momen met Blinken in Washington on Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh-US diplomatic relations. After the meeting, the Bangladeshi foreign minister told reporters that the BNP had sought the cooperation of the United States to participate in the elections. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul spoke on the occasion at a discussion meeting at the National Press Club on Wednesday afternoon. He said, “Our Secretary of State met with the US Secretary of State and requested him to bring the BNP to the polls for democracy in Bangladesh. But Obaidul Quader always spoke, BNP or foreigners swear. Today, it has been proved that those who swear allegiance to foreign countries are Awami League.Mirza Fakhrul alleged that the ruling party has already started campaigning for a non-opposition election. In this context, he spoke about the arrest of BNP mayoral candidate Ishraq Hossain in the last election of Dhaka South City Corporation. Fakhrul said Ishraq Hossain has been arrested in an old case. Opposition parties have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.In his speech, Mirza Fakhrul criticized the government for failing to control road accidents. He said, ‘There is a lot of talk about roads in Dhaka city. Here the bridge minister is the general secretary of the Awami League, whose ministry has failed miserably to provide road safety in the whole country including Dhaka city.
This discussion meeting and iftar mahfil was organized on the occasion of the 42nd founding anniversary of the Jatiya Ganatantrik Party (Jagpa). BNP standing committee member Abdul Moin Khan and BNP joint secretary general Moazzem Hossain addressed the discussion meeting chaired by Jagpa president Khandaker Lutfar Rahman. Leaders of the BNP-led 20-party alliance National Democratic Party (NDP), Islamic Party, Bangladesh NAP and Bangladesh Labor Party were present on the occasion.
