Dhaka: Mentioning that Awami League has been practising democracy in real sense as a big political party, its general secretary Obaidul Quader on Sunday said the party is trying to separate its activities from the government.

As part of this move, some ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers were removed from important party posts in the recently held council, aiming to give them scope to perform their ministerial jobs without any hassle, he said.

Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, came up with the remarks while addressing a dialogue with journalists over ‘Development and Contemporary Politics’ at Ganamadhyam Kendra at the secretariat in Dhaka, reports UNB.

Asked whether Quader will be able to simultaneously perform his duties properly as the party general secretary and a minister, he said he will do that without any problem.

‘Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wakes up at 5:00am in the morning. I also follow her regularly. If I start my ministerial work at 5:00am I can finish those by 10:00am. If the PM gives me more responsibilities, I can perform as well,’ Quader said.

Sought comments about militancy, the ruling party leader said it will not be wise to think that terrorism and militancy have been rooted out from the country. ‘There might be bigger attacks in the future,’ he added.

Asked whether the AL will discuss with the BNP to form new Election Commission (EC) before the next election, Quader said the commission will be reconstituted as per the constitution as it was done in 2012. However, it is the President’s jurisdiction to form the EC, he added.

Terming BNP a big political party, Quader said they (BNP) are afraid of election and political movement. ‘BNP only exists on banners. Despite being a big party, they can’t arrange 500 people to join a rally,’ he added.

Asked about the possibility of any dialogue with BNP, the minister said, ‘AL believes in democracy and there’s no need for any dialogue now.’

If needed, Quader said, the Prime Minister may hold dialogue in the future for the sake of the country.

Replying to a query about the opposition Jatiya Party (JP), he said JP is the opposition party as per the rule of the general election.

‘If BNP had taken part in the last general election, JP would not have been the opposition party. BNP couldn’t become the opposition party because of their own fault,’ he added.

However, the minister hopes that BNP will take part in the next general election.