bdnews24.com :
Awami League MP Subid Ali Bhuiyan has dismissed the allegation brought by more than one lawmaker of calling Ziaur Rahman Bangladesh’s first president in a meeting of a parliamentary panel.
Amidst intense criticism over the issue, Subid Ali called an ‘urgent’ news conference at the media centre of Parliament Bhaban on Thursday afternoon.
“I will definitely step down from politics if someone can prove that I have called Ziaur Rahman the first president,” he said.
In a meeting of parliamentary standing committee on public undertakings on Wednesday, Subid said the BNP’s founder ‘Zia was the first president of Bangladesh’, more than one MP who attended the meeting confirmed bdnews24.com.
The panel’s chief former deputy speaker Shawkat Ali admitted that the MPs had heated arguments with Subid over the issue in the meeting. A committee member, Mohibur Rahman Manik, said Wednesday’s meeting was on the University Grants Commission.
“I told the UGC chairman that the commission can seek explanation for calling Ziaur Rahman the first president of Bangladesh in Dhaka University’s founding anniversary souvenir because the education minister says his ministry cannot interfere in an autonomous institution,” Manik told bdnews24.com. “At this stage of the discussion, before the UGC chairman could respond, Subid Ali said ‘Zia is the first president of Bangladesh and he (Subid) has also written it in his book’,” Manik said.
“Then I asked ‘what does it mean when you (Subid) bring up a settled issue which the BNP raises for debate’,” he said. Subid on Thursday said he only told the parliamentary panel meeting that Zia had described himself as the president while reading out the proclamation of Bangladesh’s independence at Kalurghat Radio Station first, a mistake which was corrected later.
Awami League MP Subid Ali Bhuiyan has dismissed the allegation brought by more than one lawmaker of calling Ziaur Rahman Bangladesh’s first president in a meeting of a parliamentary panel.
Amidst intense criticism over the issue, Subid Ali called an ‘urgent’ news conference at the media centre of Parliament Bhaban on Thursday afternoon.
“I will definitely step down from politics if someone can prove that I have called Ziaur Rahman the first president,” he said.
In a meeting of parliamentary standing committee on public undertakings on Wednesday, Subid said the BNP’s founder ‘Zia was the first president of Bangladesh’, more than one MP who attended the meeting confirmed bdnews24.com.
The panel’s chief former deputy speaker Shawkat Ali admitted that the MPs had heated arguments with Subid over the issue in the meeting. A committee member, Mohibur Rahman Manik, said Wednesday’s meeting was on the University Grants Commission.
“I told the UGC chairman that the commission can seek explanation for calling Ziaur Rahman the first president of Bangladesh in Dhaka University’s founding anniversary souvenir because the education minister says his ministry cannot interfere in an autonomous institution,” Manik told bdnews24.com. “At this stage of the discussion, before the UGC chairman could respond, Subid Ali said ‘Zia is the first president of Bangladesh and he (Subid) has also written it in his book’,” Manik said.
“Then I asked ‘what does it mean when you (Subid) bring up a settled issue which the BNP raises for debate’,” he said. Subid on Thursday said he only told the parliamentary panel meeting that Zia had described himself as the president while reading out the proclamation of Bangladesh’s independence at Kalurghat Radio Station first, a mistake which was corrected later.
