Hours after lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon said people couldn't vote in the Dec 30 polls, leaders of Awami League-led 14-party Alliance called the Workers’ Party of Bangladesh chief to resign as a Member of the Parliament.
Earlier on Saturday (Oct 19), Menon, at a party programme in Barishal, said, "I have been elected in the last National Election. But still, I am saying that people couldn’t vote. That was the case as well for the elections to the Upazila and Union councils afterwards.”
Menon’s Workers’ Party is an ally in the 14-party Alliance. The veteran left-wing politician has served as a member of the Sheikh Hasina-led cabinet between late 2013 until the last general election.
Hasina, who has always included representatives from the AL's allied parties in her administration, did not pick any of them as her new cabinet colleagues while forming the government after the 11th national election.
Menon's remarks, however, drew flack from the leaders of the Alliance's components including AL's.
Dismissing the Workers’ Party's claim, AL Presidiums member Muhammad Faruk Khan told Bangla Tribune, "Whatever Memon has said is not true at all. As an MP, making such a statement on the election is never desirable."
According to this AL leader, as a veteran politician, Memon should have been more careful to make the remarks.
"Whatever he [Memon] has said, if he thinks he spoke the truth then he should resign [as an MP]," Khan said.
AL Organising Secretary Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, too, differed with Memon's remarks.
Chowdhury said people wanted the pro-liberation forces to run the government and after seeing the polls' results they did not question the elections either.
"Sometimes such comments are delivered intentionally to serve political and other interests," said Chowdhury, who is the state minister for shipping.
Anwar Hossain Manju, chairman of 14-party Alliance's component Jatiya Party (JP), thinks Memon has just spoken of himself.
A former minister, Manju said he doesn't pay heed to whatever Menon has spoken of.
Sammobadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua echoed AL leader Faruk Khan.
Memon "has lost his moral rights to continue as a lawyer," said Barua, who is a former minister.
Terming Memon's remarks as his "personal opinion", Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) General Secretary Shirin Akhter said, "We, too, have been elected through popular votes as people exercised their franchise."
Chairman of another 14-party Alliance's partner Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizbhandari also urged Menon to step down if he is firm over his remarks.
According to Maizbhandari, Memon's remarks shows "disloyalty to Sheikh Hasina."
The Worker's Party "should leave the 14-party Alliance, in addition, to resign from parliament," he advised.
Workers' Party leaders, however, defended its chief's statement.
Party Politburo member Anisur Rahman Mallik told Bangla Tribune, "He [Menon] may well say so and has been doing so for some time.
"The party, too, stands by the chief's stance," Mallik said.