Tofail hopes BNP will join city polls

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed expressed on Sunday the hope that BNP would join the upcoming city corporation elections shunning the path of violence and terrorism, reports UNB.

"People are not supporting the ongoing violence and subversive acts in the name of movement. People have rejected blockade and hartal programmes," he said.

"I hope all political parties, including BNP, will take part in the elections slated for April 28," he added.

The minister said this after a meeting with a Vietnamese trade delegation led by Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong at his Secretariat office.

He also said there is no relation between blockade and elections and expressed hope that the Election Commission would take necessary steps to hold free and fair elections to the city corporations in Dhaka and Chittagong.