AL Has No Headache Over BNP's Movement: Quader

Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said the ruling AL has no headache about the movement of BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party).

“The BNP’s movement is nothing but a cock and bull story. We have no headache about the BNP. There must be commoners to wage a movement. A movement cannot be created by merely engaging activists of a particular party,” he said.

Talking to the reporters after formally submitting the nomination papers of AL candidates for the reserved women seats in the parliament at the Election Commission (EC) here, Quader said the government is not thinking of banning BNP from politics.

“They (BNP) are doing it themselves. Besides, we have no headache about BNP as it could not involve people in its movement. BNP could not show what it says in its statements,” he said.

In fact, the AL general secretary said, there was no issue of the movement in the country even before the last polls, and there is no issue right now.

BNP has made a mistake due to its trend of negative politics and the party has been stuck up in the quicksand, he said.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said there is no obstacle to making the 12th national parliament interactive as there is an opposition party and a significant number of independent lawmakers in the House too.

He said that the January 7 general election was free and fair one with more than 41 percent voter turnout.

Compared to the elections held in many countries of the world, the AL general secretary said, there was no scope to say that the voter turnout was less in Bangladesh, while 28 political parties participated in the polls.

“There is an opposition party in the House. Jatiya Party has already started its functioning in the parliament,” he said.

Responding to a question whether the Jatiya Party can play an effective role as the opposition in the House with only 13 members, Quader said let it be seen in the parliament first.

AL organising secretary Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan, its office secretary Barrister Biplab Barua and deputy office secretary Sayem Khan were, present among others._BSS