BNP lobbied for sanctions to be imposed on BD: Quader

Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Friday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's development activities and inclusive politics have pushed BNP's politics into darkness, reports BSS.
"And now BNP is unable to come out of this darkness," he said while addressing an iftar and Eid gifts distribution ceremony at Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital in the morning.
Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said before the last general elections, BNP lobbied to foreign powers and hatched plots so that sanctions could be imposed on Bangladesh by developed nations and the elections could be foiled.
He said the wave of global crisis has reached Bangladesh too but the country's people are comparatively in a good position due to the prudent leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Responding to an allegation of BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir that about 80 per cent of BNP leaders and workers are being oppressed and persecuted by the AL government, the AL general secretary said: "I will tell Mirza Fakhrul to refrain from telling such lies. Make list public. Who are these 80 per cent activists? Mirza Fakhrul, Mirza Abbas and Amir Khusru all went out of jail gradually."
Claiming that the BNP's politics is negative, he said, the politics of BNP has been rejected by the country's people, while BNP is becoming more irrelevant and it is getting minimised day by day.
Responding to a BNP statement, Quader said in fact, BNP has never severed ties with Pakistan as Pakistan is in the heart and spirit of BNP.
The Awami League is never subservient to any foreign power or state, he said, adding: "Bangladesh is in our heart and Bangladesh is in our spirit. That is what we hold in our hearts."
The road transport and bridges minister said as per the instruction of AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the AL and its affiliated bodies are distributing iftar items and Eid gifts among common people across the country instead of holding iftar parties.
On the contrary, he said, BNP has been organising iftar parties in big city hotels and by organising these iftar parties, BNP is spreading propaganda and making falsehood against the ruling AL.
AL joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, industry and commerce secretary Siddiqur Rahman, among others, spoke at the iftar and Eid items distribution ceremony with AL's relief and social welfare secretary Aminul Islam Amin in the chair.