The National Citizens Party aims to either form the government or play the role of a strong opposition, said Sarjis Alam, the party’s chief organiser for the northern region, yesterday.
He also said the NCP does not want to be a “pet” opposition like the Jatiya Party.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. He made the remark at a coordination meeting of the NCP held at the Shaheed Abu Sayeed International Convention Centre in the capital’s Shahbagh area.
The meeting was organised by the party’s Dhaka city (north and south) and Dhaka district units.
“NCP did not emerge to become the 46th political party in Bangladesh. We will either represent the people as the ruling party in parliament or become a strong opposition. We are not here to be a pet opposition like the Jatiya Party,” said Sarjis.
Sarjis said the party will start announcing convening committees for its district and city units from today. He expressed hope that the convening committees for Dhaka north and south city units would be finalised within three days.
“All district and city convening committees must be formed by November 15,” he said.
“By December 30, NCP must have convening committees in every ward — from district and upazila to union, thana, and city levels. If we can do this, NCP will contest the next national election as one of the two strongest political parties in Bangladesh.”
The convener of each committee must be over 40, and the member secretary must not be younger than 35.
“Anyone who held positions in the Awami League or its affiliated bodies before the July uprising cannot join NCP convening committees,” he said.
He also instructed that inactive or controversial individuals must be excluded.
Hasnat Abdullah, the chief organiser of the NCP for the southern region, alleged that the country is heading toward another engineered election.
Accusing political parties of colluding over the allocation of deputy commissioners at the Secretariat, Hasnat said, “We want to tell the interim government: you are here to ensure fairness, but we see you bowing to certain political parties and assisting them in DC appointments.”
Criticising the Election Commission, Hasnat remarked, “Our Election Commission is a spineless body. Political parties have treated it as spoils and divided it among themselves. They go to the advisers and dictate who can stay and who cannot. Every institution in Bangladesh has been divided between these two parties.”