Dhaka, Nov 17: Bangladesh's second largest
opposition party, the Jatiya Party (JP), today said it would
join the main opposition Awami League party in boycotting the
current session of Parliament because of comments made by a
government minister.
"We will not join the ongoing session of parliament after
the comments made by the minister over the monga (food
shortage) in some parts of northern Bangladesh," Golam
Mohammad Qader, a senior lawmaker of one JP faction, told
reporters.
"We have to think if we will join future parliament
sessions," he added.
The JP faction, headed by deposed Bangladeshi president
Hussain Muhammad Ershad, has 14 MPs who walked out of the
300-seat assembly yesterday.
They were angered by a denial from state Minister for
Disaster Management Ashadul Habib Dulu that the northern
Rangpur district was suffering from food shortages.
Rangpur is Ershad's home district and majority of the JP
members of parliament were elected from the region.
The Awami League, headed by former prime minister Sheikh
Hasina Wajed, has paralysed Parliament for nearly a year with
a boycott begun partly in protest at another government
minister's remarks against its leader.
Bureau Report
