BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday night said they have been assured by chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus that the national election will be held on time in February.
鈥楬e (Chief Adviser) called us to ensure that the election will take place at the right time (in February). There should be no confusion or doubt about that,鈥� Fakhrul said while speaking to journalists after a meeting with the Chief Adviser.
He said they also talked about the recent attack on Gono Odhikar Parishad President Nurul Haque Nur and expressed their serious concern.
鈥楾his incident was extremely unfortunate and alarming in the current political situation. We have clearly told the Chief Adviser that it must be investigated properly,鈥� the BNP leader said.
He hoped that the judicial inquiry committee formed by the government will carry out a fair investigation.
The BNP leader suspected that some forces might be trying to delay the election through such incident. 鈥楤ut we have been assured that the election will take place in February. The chief adviser told us this today and agreed with our view.鈥�
The meeting with the eight-member BNP delegation, led by Fakhrul, took place from 7:30 pm to 8:40 pm at the Chief Adviser鈥檚 residence Jamuna.
The other delegation members are BNP Standing Committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and AZM Zahid Hossain.
Earlier in the day, Prof Yunus also met leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami at 4:30pm and National Citizen Party at 6:30pm.
When asked about Jamaat鈥檚 concern that the Chief Adviser might be favouring one party as he met BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman in London, Fakhrul rejected the claim.
鈥楾his is completely baseless. The chief adviser has the full authority to speak with leaders of any political party, especially the biggest ones in the country. He exercised that authority and it was a fruitful discussion,鈥� he said.
鈥楢fter today鈥檚 meeting, we believe the whole nation is now confident that the election will be held in February,鈥� Fakhrul added.
