Tie with Ershad
Hasina questions uncompromising image of Khaleda
Staff Correspondent
Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the prime minister who is known as an uncompromising leader within her party (BNP) is now compromising with 'her husband's killer' ousted autocratic president HM Ershad. "Reminding one of a Shakespearean tragedy, Khaleda Zia (PM) once accused Jatiya Party Chairman Ershad as the killer of her husband (president) Ziaur Rahman but is now compromising with him to forge an electoral alliance," said Hasina, also president of the main opposition Awami League (AL). The AL chief was speaking at a closed-door exchange of views with her party's grassroots level leaders from Meherpur, Chuadanga and Narail districts at her Dhanmondi office in the city. Hasian mentioned that in 1990, Khaleda Zia publicly called Ershad the killer of her husband. " Formation of an alliance with Ershad's party will be of no benefit as people will not vote for them (BNP-led coalition) in the coming election for their largescale corruption, misrule and price hike of essentials," Hasina said. She urged the people to give a befitting lesson to the BNP-Jamaat candidates in the next election. Referring to the prime minister's consistent claim that the country is witnessing a development spree, the immediate past prime minister asked if her (PM) claim is sound, then why is she 'conspiring' to hold an election under a 'blue print'? The AL president expressed her surprise that the PM is now sending her son Tarique Rahman (BNP senior joint secretary general) to her husband's killer Ershad's house to win his support. How did he feel when he was received at the residence of Ershad? she posed a question. Referring to recent remarks of the PM that people would again vote for the BNP-led alliance, Hasina asked, "If you are confident about winning the next election, why are you so desperate to take Ershad in the alliance?" Hasina once again called for foiling "the BNP-Jamaat election engineering" to protect their right to vote. In this context she said, "If you (people) need to take sticks in your hands, you will have to take those only to protect your voting right." She blasted the BNP-Jamaat coalition government for "making the country number one in corruption". She also accused the government of repression on journalists and oppression on women and children. Hasina asked her party's grassroots leaders to stay by the people and work together to ensure the party's victory in the coming election.
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