Govt to be forced to resign: BNP

BNP leaders Wednesday asked the government to immediately quit power, otherwise they cautioned it will be forced to step down through mass movement, reports UNB. The warning came from a rally organised by city BNP as part of its demonstration in all divisional headquarters to protest against the recent increase of fuel oil price by the government. Addressing the rally in front of the BNP central office at noon, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said a greater mass movement will be launched after the party's road march towards Khulna on November 26-27. "If the party in power does not step down voluntarily, it will be forced to quit power," he said. Fakhrul said the Awami League government has "failed in all fronts and made public life miserable." Referring to the increase in prices of fuel oils thrice in the last six months, he said cost of everything has shot up following the rise in prices of fuel oil whereas people's income has not increased proportionately. The BNP leader said that about 3.3 million small investors are losing their capital in the stock market. He mentioned the incident of a suicide attempt by an investor by setting fire to his body Tuesday. On Dhaka City Corporation Election and the Electronic Voting System (EVM), Fakhrul said the government wants to split the DCC as "it will not be able to win the DCC election" and want to use EVM "to rig the polls." He said the government does not want to deploy army in election because it wants to hold elections under the ruling party to hang on to power. Fakhrul said the government filed a false case against BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman although it has not been proved that he had siphoned off money abroad. BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told the rally that increasing price of fuel oils is a "nonsensical decision" of the government. Presided over by Dhaka city BNP joint convenor SA Khaleque, the rally was also addressed, among others, by Amanullah Aman, Zainul Abdin Farroque, Shirin Sultana and Sultan Salahuddin Tuku. Later, a procession paraded through Kakrail-Nayapaltan crossing, Bijoynagar, Puranapaltan and Topkhana road before terminating in front of the National Press Club.