Bangladesh News

The BNP-led opposition will continue boycotting parliament proceedings until it receives a “positive and respectful” decision from the speaker about their demand for three more seats in the front row.

The BNP Parliamentary Party yesterday came up with the decision.

“We are yet to reach a decision on the speaker’s assurance of one or two more seats for us in the front row,” Joynal Abedin Faruq, chief whip of the opposition, told reporters after the parliamentary party meeting.

“Our parliamentary party will sit again tomorrow to discuss the issue,” Faruq told reporters after the two-and-a-half-hour-long meeting in the parliament building complex.

“We had been waiting the whole day for a positive response from the speaker regarding our demand but we are sorry to inform you that we did not get any positive answer from him,” Faruq said. “We are still waiting for a positive initiative from the speaker,” he added.

Asked about the speaker’s comment on a private TV channel that he is unable to increase the number of seats for the opposition in the front row, Faruq said, “The speaker did not tell us anything like this.”

Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia was scheduled to preside over the parliamentary party meeting but she was not present. Faruq said she is feeling insecure as Special Security Force, which was deployed for her security, was withdrawn and therefore did not attend the meeting.

Demanding three more seats in the front row on the left of the speaker’s podium, the BNP-led opposition lawmakers started boycotting the House proceedings from Wednesday.

Former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar unilaterally allocated 10 seats in the front row for the opposition lawmakers. The newly elected Speaker, Abdul Hamid, rearranged the seating plan allocating four seats of the front row to the opposition.