'BNP always wants to come to power with the help of other forces'
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that BNP always wants to come to power with the help of other forces instead of people's mandate.
She said, "Whenever election time comes, they (BNP) look for some other force, who can put them in power."
She said this during a courtesy meeting at Gonobhavan with a cross-party parliamentary delegation of UK led by Birendra Sharma MP, Vice-Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group on Bangladesh (APPG) and Chair of APPG on Indo-British Affairs.
Prime Minister's speech writer Nazrul Islam briefed the journalists after the meeting.
The Prime Minister said, 'BNP always wants to secure power by any means.'
Referring to the January 7 and 2014 general elections, she said, "If they do not get any assurance that someone will bring them to power, they boycott the elections."
She said BNP traded nominations for the 2018 elections, but boycotted the election on election day as it was not guaranteed to come to power.
She said, 'BNP is a terrorist group, they never came to power through fair elections.
Referring to the 2008 general elections, she said, the elections were free, fair and participatory and no one questioned its fairness.
Whereas the BNP-led coalition got only 30 seats and the Awami League alone got 233 seats.
She said that it was their choice not to participate in the last January 7 parliamentary elections.
The Prime Minister said that BNP was born in the hands of a military dictator in the cantonment.
She said, "That person (Ziaur Rahman) has corrupted the electoral system by using yes/no vote and presidential election." Undemocratic forces have ruled Bangladesh for 29 long years.
She said, "At that time, there was no democracy in the country. As a result, there has been no development in the country.
Pointing out that BNP has no leadership to take the party forward, the Prime Minister said, BNP people are only getting orders from London.
She said, as a result, BNP did not participate in any election after 2008.
Despite arson and calls to the people by the BNP to boycott the 2024 elections, the people spontaneously participated in the elections and voted for them.
She said, "People rejected BNP's call and 41.8 percent votes were cast."
The five-member parliamentary delegation included former Conservative Minister for Tech and Digital Economy Paul Scully, UK House of Commons Select Committee Member for Foreign Affairs Neil Coyle, MP, House of Commons Opposition Whip Andrew Western and House of Commons Senior Parliamentary Assistant Dominic Moffitt.
The delegation arrived in Dhaka on January 27 and is scheduled to leave for London on January 31.
At this time, Prime Minister's private industry and investment advisor Salman Fazlur Rahman, Ambassador-at-Large Ziauddin and Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Secretary Mohammad Salahuddin were present.