AL leader demands speaker's resignation

AL leader demands speaker's resignation

Awami League presidium member Suranjit Sengupta demanded the resignation of Speaker Muhammad Jamiruddin Sircar on Sunday.

Speaking at an iftar gathering to mark the birthday of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, Suranjit said: "He should resign after making political comments in violation of his oath as speaker."

"He should not speak in such a way when taking money from the taxpaying public."

At a roundtable on Friday, at the National Press Club, Sircar had said there was no cause for nationalist forces to fear as Awami League could not win the next parliamentary polls "even if it forges an alliance with 14 parties, 16 parties or 100 parties."

Sircar also said Awami League had destroyed democracy in the past and the future of democracy was not safe in Awami League hands.

Suranjit stated: "We will go to polls with our leader. We will win the election and Sheikh Hasina will be prime minister again."

The gathering of AL leaders was held at the NAM flat of former speaker and deputy opposition leader Abdul Hamid.

Hamid echoed Suranjit: "We will not go to poll leaving Sheikh Hasina outside. The government is able to withdraw the cases against Sheikh Hasina if it wants to."

He also said "Sircar cannot make the comments he did as speaker."

Hamid on Saturday termed Sircar's comments "undemocratic and against parliamentary norms".

"[Sircar] cannot ridicule a party holding the office of speaker, a national and non-partisan institution," Hamid had told bdnews24.com.

"By making those comments, he has lost the moral authority as speaker, who must perform his duties without political bias."

Questioning the Sircar's allegiance to the politics of BNP, Hamid also bitterly criticised the party.

"The very emergence of the BNP is undemocratic. It is unacceptable for the BNP to talk about democracy," said Hamid.