UNB, Dhaka :
Chief Whip ASM Feroz on Tuesday said removed minister Abdul Latif Siddique, MP will not lose his parliament membership despite his expulsion from Awami League presidium and suspension of his primary party membership.
“Latif Siddique will remain as MP since the exiting law on cancellation of the parliament membership is not applicable for him.
Because, he neither cast vote against his own party nor resigned from the party,” he told a press conference at the Parliament Media Centre.
“He (Latif) didn’t go beyond any party decision in the House. That’s why the impugned issue of losing his membership doesn’t fall under the floor-crossing article 70 of the constitution,” explained Chief Whip Feroz.
He further said, there is nothing mentioned explicitly in the constitution and the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure about the complexity arises after the punitive actions made against him by the ruling Awami League for making anti-Islamic remarks abroad.
Feroz, however, said if any controversy arises over the matter, the Speaker, on her return home from abroad, will dispose it of in light of the laws and rules.
Earlier, on October 12, hours after his removal from the cabinet, Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC) expelled Abdul Latif Siddique from the party presidium for hurting the religious sentiment of Muslims at a recent programme in the USA.
Awami League on Tuesday also issued a show cause notice asking him to explain why he should not be expelled from primary membership of the party.
At the press conference arranged after a preparatory meeting to accord reception to Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury as she is the first Bangladeshi to have been elected chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).
Feroz said the Speaker will be given a warm reception at South Plaza of the Parliament on October 22. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be the chief guest of the ceremony, he added.
