In a scathing attack on Awami League general secretary for his comment that BNP staged its sit-in in the city illegally, party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said Obaidul Quader is an ‘unrestrained liar’.

‘Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader is a desperate liar. He said BNP held its programme illegally. How did he speak such a brazen lie? What else can we call him except an unrestrained liar?’ he said, reports the UNB.

Rizvi came up with the comment while speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.

He said their party sought permission for the sit-in programme from police and they have a received copy of the letter. ‘Even, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner spoke with our secretary general about the permission.’

The BNP leader said they had a plan to hold the programme in front of their party’s central office on Thursday. ‘As police requested us to stage it in front of the Press Club, we shifted it there.’  

Mentioning that Quader was a Dhaka University student and a senior student leader when he was a first year student, Rizvi said what people and students will think about politicians if a senior leader like Awami League general secretary lies without any hesitation.

He alleged that the ruling party leaders used to resort to lies to hush up their misdeeds. ‘Awami League’s politics is full of self-contradiction. They act exactly opposite to what they say.’

The BNP leader voiced concern that their party’s arrested leaders and activists are not getting bail from the lower court due to the government’s interference.

‘Our nearly 6,500 leaders and activists were arrested over the last one and a half months. The government has blocked bails for our arrested party men by establishing its control on the lower judiciary.’

Rizvi strongly condemned the assault on a women in the city by the ‘ruling party’ men on March 7.

He came down heavily on Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda for his comment that the Commission will not take initiatives for an inclusive election, saying the CEC is working at the behest of the Prime Minister not guided by his conscience.

‘The Chief Election Commissioner is hardly bothered about who is taking part in polls or not as he’s moving ahead to hold lopsided polls to help Awami League cling to power,’ the BNP leader said.

Rizvi said the CEC is also silent about the election campaign by the Prime Minister spending public money only to protect his job. ‘The CEC’s remarks give an impression that he’s not willing to hold a fair and credible election and create a level-playing field.