Leaders from different political parties on Monday urged the interim government to hold the next general election by December this year for the sake of a democratic transition in the country.
They made the demand in a discussion organised by the 12-Party Alliance demanding the return of Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman to the country.
The alliance is a partner of the alliance led by the BNP.
BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said that his party wanted the next general election by December this year.
鈥榃e want reforms of the constitution and the country鈥檚 ruling system. The reforms of the constitution must be passed in the next parliament,鈥� Nazrul Islam Khan said.
Addressing the discussion as the chair, Jatiya Party faction chairman Mostafa Jamal Haider urged the interim government to announce a roadmap for the next general election without any delay.
He also urged the government to remove all the obstacles so that Tarique Rahman could return to the country.
Liberal Democratic Party chairman Shahadat Hossain Selim also demanded to take the initiative to hold the next general election by December.
He said that they would not allow time after December for holding the elections.
Bangladesh Jatiya Dal chairman Syed Ehsanul Haque said that they thought that the interim government would bring a democratic transition in the country soon.
鈥楤ut now we are seeing that they are delaying the process,鈥� he alleged.
鈥楳oreover, they are going to take decisions to lease out the ports and give humanitarian transit, which are not their jobs,鈥� he said.
LDP secretary general Tamis Uddin Titu, Jatiya Party faction secretary general Ahsan Habib Linkan, Labour Party chairman Faroque Rahman, among others, also spoke.