The minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives and BNP secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, has said the presidential election will be held on time.
He made the remarks in reply to journalists’ questions at 10.30am on Monday, 27 July, after opening the divisional office of the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) in the terminal area of Rangpur city.
Mirza Fakhrul said: “The presidential election will be held on time. A candidate for the office of president will be nominated in accordance with the party’s decision.”
On local government elections he said the Election Commission will decide the matter of educational qualifications for local government polls. Local government elections will be held at the start of next year if not at the end of this year, he said.
The minister also said the government has waived interest on agricultural loans of up to 10,000 taka. The prime minister has also announced the largest allocation for agricultural development in the Rangpur region, he said. All necessary steps will be taken to make agriculture profitable.
Describing the BNP as a democratic political party, Mirza Fakhrul said: “Through a long struggle we won a two-thirds majority in parliament with the people’s love and votes and formed the government. Not once — the BNP has run the government five times. This is a farmer-friendly government and a government of the people.” Those who call the BNP fascist, he said, either lack knowledge or have had their outlook shaped that way.
Earlier in the morning he inaugurated the BRDB divisional office. He later opened a rural fair at the Rangpur Public Library ground and visited various stalls, and joined a views-exchange meeting with civil society at the Shilpakala Academy.
Also present were the chairman of the Rangpur Development Authority, Shamsuzzaman Samu; divisional commissioner Shahidul Islam (NDC); the DIG of Rangpur range, Aminul Islam; the deputy commissioner of Rangpur, Ruhul Amin; the administrator of Rangpur Zila Parishad, Saiful Islam; and other government officials and staff and BNP leaders and activists.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report