Politics

Next general election to be held under Sheikh Hasina: Tofail

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed today said that all political parties, including the BNP, would take part in the next general election by 2019 under the present government.“Sheikh Hasina would head as the prime minister the election-hour government and there is no scope to go beyond this,” he told a memorial meeting on national leader Mohiuddin Ahmed at Begum Sufiya Kamal Auditorium at National Museum here.Tofail Ahmed said the then government would extend all necessary cooperation to the election commission, adding that all political parties are taking preparations to participate in the next general election.The commerce minister said the BNP had rehabilitated the defeated forces of 1971 into country`s politics and fanned breeding of communal forces by making the anti-liberation elements as cabinet ministers.Terming Bangladesh as a democratic and non-communal state, he said there is no room for communalism in this country.Recalling the long political career of Mohiuddin Ahmed, the minister said he (Mohiuddin) was a trusted and close friend of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and he was involved in all democratic movements with Bangabandhu.The Mohiudin Ahmed Smrti Parishad organized the discussion in observance of the 20th death anniversary of late leader.Among others, Workers Party President and Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, Communist Party of Bangladesh President Mujahidul Islam Selim, noted journalist Abed Khan and Jatiya Party (Monju) Secretary General Sheikh Shahidul Islam took part in the meeting with Dhaka University pro-vice chancellor Dr M Aktaruzzaman in the chair.Source: BSS