Staff Reporter :In a dramatic development, the expelled Awami League leader and Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui, who was an elected lawmaker from Tangail-4 Parliamentary Constituency, finally resigned from the Parliament on Tuesday.Siddiqui joined the first day of seventh session of 10th Parliament at 7:30pm yesterday and sat in his designated seat in the first row of the treasury bench. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury allowed him some time when he stood in the point of order. Later, seeking apology from the countrymen, he submitted his resignation letter to Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury. He sought permission from the Speaker to read out the whole resignation letter. But the speaker said it would be accepted as a read out statement. “It is my last day in Parliament. I am resigning Tangail-4 Parliamentary seat. I am a human being and to err is human. I’m a Muslim and I’m also an Awami Leaguer,” Siddiqui said in the point of order. “I don’t have any allegation against anyone. I don’t lose my trust in people. I was repressed by the state which I faced with patience. I am always against of all sorts of fraudulence, self-interests and vagueness,” he also said . Earlier on August 23, Latif Siddiqui said that he would voluntarily resign member of Parliament after an Election Commission hearing over the legitimacy of his Parliamentary membership. After the hearing, Siddiqui said that he would send his resignation letter to Speaker immediately.In the wake of severe pressure, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury had sent a letter to the Election Commission [EC] to give a decision about the Parliamentary membership of Abdul Latif Siddique. Earlier on July 7, the Speaker received a letter from the Awami League about the expulsion of Latif Siddiqui from the ruling party, eight months after taking the decision.The Awami League terminated the membership Latif Siddiqui from the party on October 24 last year for his demeaning comments about Hajj, Tablighi Jamaat and Prime Minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy at a New York programme on September 28. Following the remarks, Siddique was axed from the post of telecommunications and information technology minister on October 12. His presidium and primary membership in the ruling Awami League was annulled. He surrendered to police in November and a court sent him to jail in one of the cases that accused him of ‘hurting religious sentiments. He was released from jail on June 29 after securing bail from the High Court.
