Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said that if President Md Shahabuddin wishes to resign constitutionally, that option is open to him. But the government has taken no initiative or step in the matter, he said.
The minister made the remarks on Thursday in reply to journalists’ questions after a meeting on development planning for Cox’s Bazar at the finance ministry, amid speculation about the president’s resignation.
Asked about reports in various media on the possibility of the president resigning, the home minister said: “If the president wishes to resign constitutionally, on health grounds or for any other reason, that option is open to him. But we know nothing about it.” Asked whether the government was taking any step on the matter, he said: “Nothing is being said from the government’s side. What you are seeing in the newspapers is what you are seeing. If something like that happens, we will look at it then.”
Replying to another question on the speculation surrounding the president, the home minister told the journalist: “You said yourself that it is speculation. Speculation is just speculation.” Asked whether the president was going to resign on health grounds, he said: “That will have to be asked of him.”
Earlier, during the interim government, President Md Shahabuddin had complained that he was effectively kept cornered. He said he had felt insulted by the removal of his photograph from various Bangladesh missions abroad and by the shrinking of Bangabhaban’s press wing.
Although the BNP formed a government after winning an absolute majority in the February 12 parliamentary election, the president did not resign. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and members of the new cabinet were sworn in before him on February 17. In an interview published on February 23, Md Shahabuddin said the BNP had extended full cooperation to him during his difficult time under the interim government, and claimed the BNP’s top leadership had stood by him to preserve constitutional continuity.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report