Staff Reporter :
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on Tuesday introduced her party-backed mayor candidates of two cities of Dhaka.
The BNP chief also sought vote for them in the city corporations elections while addressing a cultural function arranged in front of her party’s Nayapaltan central office in Dhaka by Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (Jasas), the cultural wing of the BNP, to welcome the ‘Bangla New Year 1422’.
Khaleda Zia urged the city residents to carry out a silent revolution through casting votes for Mirza Abbas, Tabith Awal and M Manzoor Alam for the mayor posts of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) respectively.
The New Year celebration programme was turned into polls campaign as Mirza Abbas’s wife Afroza Abbas, Tabith Awal and Prof Dr Emajuddin Ahmed, convener of the ‘Adarsha Dhaka Andolon’, the platform floated for working in fabour of the BNP-bakced candidates, also joined the function and addressed it, seeking the votes.
Additional police were deployed at Nayapaltan and its adjacent areas. Traffic movement was stopped on the roads from Kakrail intersections to Fakirerpool, as thousands of BNP supporters joined the function. It was Khaleda Zia’s first public appearance in three months. The BNP chairperson had last visited the party’s central office on October 21 in 2013.
Meanwhile, a rally of Khaleda Zia, scheduled to be held at Engineers Institution of Bangladesh (IEB) in the capital city on Wednesday, was postponed. The BNP chief was scheduled to introduce her party-backed mayor and councillor candidates of DSCC and DNCC polls in the rally.
‘Adarsha Dhaka Andolan’ booked the auditorium of the IEB for arranging the rally. Prof Dr Emajuddin Ahmed, convener of the platform, said that they would hold the rally sometime later. He, however, did not mention the reason behind the postponement.
Addressing the Tuesday’s Nayapaltan function, Khaleda Zia called upon the young generation to vote for her party-backed candidates for the change and development of cities as well as the country.
She alleged that the government was not allowing the BNP-backed candidates in the electioneering properly, while the ruling party-backed candidates are doing everything violating the election code of conduct.
She said that the BNP was taking part in the city polls, as it did in the past, but BNP’s demand for general elections still sustained. In her eight-minute speech, she said, “The illegal government announced the city polls at a time when killings and disappearances were going unabated. The government thought that BNP would not contest the elections as it was in movement.”
Seeking votes of Abbas and Tabith, the BNP chief said, “The Dhaka city now is not livable. It is the second worst city in the world. Vote for Abbas and Tabith to make it a livable city.”
Khaleda Zia criticised the government for not allowing JASAS to install stage and set up loudspeaker for the function. “Pahela Baishakh is a good day for all of us. But the illegal government did not allow us to hold a cultural function even. We are living in a country where there is no right for people,” she said.
JASAS obtained permission to arrange the function on 14 conditions including installation of no stage, using no loudspeaker and holding indoor function.
