Staff Reporter :
The ruling Awami League on Thursday accused the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies of conspiring to thwart the upcoming national election smelling defeat.
“The Okiyafront leaders have understood that the voters would not cast their votes for them. That is why they are trying to engineer more horrifying conspiracies in coming days,” Awami League Joint-General Secretary Abdur Rahman said at a press conference in AL president’s political office in Dhanmondi.Requesting the people to be careful, he said, the BNP, its allies, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jatiya Oikya Front can also trigger violence and anarchism across the country.
“Everyone knows what they (BNP-Jamaat alliance) did in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The people fought back against their terrorist activities bravely,’ he said.
Abdur Rahman said that a festive atmosphere prevails among the voters ahead of the December 30 election and accused the BNP of looking for means to boycott the polls.
The AL leader alleged that the BNP-led alliance was continuing attacks on ruling party supporters and candidates.
But the BNP has been accusing AL of jeopardising its campaigns. ‘It is very unfortunate that these attacks are being sponsored by the state itself,’ BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in the morning. He claimed that the incumbent government was incapable of holding a fair election.
Abdur Rahman, replying to Fakhrul’s comments, said the remarks were the BNP’s political statement. ‘They have refrained from postering and are not even reaching out to the people to prove their validity of their claims. They should remember that the election is being held under an independent Election Commission,’ he said.
The BNP has accused the EC of being subservient to the government while the Oikyafront has called for the removal of the chief election commissioner.
Bangladesh is set to hold 11th parliamentary elections on December 30.
