Dhaka, Feb 17 (PTI) – Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairman Tarique Rahman is set to become the Prime Minister after his party’s Members of Parliament elected him as leader of the parliamentary party, making it official.
The development came as newly elected MPs from across parties took the oath of office, ending the deadlock over the Constitution Reform Council.
Bangladesh’s right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami MPs initially refused to take the oath after the victorious BNP declined to take the pledge as members of the “Constitution Reform Council.”
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasirudin administered the oath of office to the BNP MPs inside Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, and Jamaat MPs were next in line. The situation became complicated after BNP refused to take the second oath as members of the council to endorse the referendum.
“We will take no oath unless BNP MPs take oath as members of the ‘Constitution Reform Council’ alongside regular parliament members,” said Jamaat’s deputy chief Abdullah Mohammad Taher.
He added that their party believed “parliament without constitutional reform is meaningless.”
The second oath aimed to obligate MPs to implement the “July Charter,” demanding a major rewrite of the Constitution, while the 84-point proposal was laid out in the referendum in a complex form for voting.
However, after an hour, Jamaat and National Citizen Party (NCP) members took the oath as both MPs and Constitution Reform Council members.
The election commission reported that over 60 percent of voters cast a “yes” vote in the referendum.
“We have not been elected as members of the Constitution Reform Council; no provision of the council is yet incorporated in the Constitution,” said Salahuddin Ahmed, BNP’s policy-making committee member and newly elected MP. He conveyed BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman’s instructions to party MPs in Parliament hall.
“None of us (BNP members) will take the second oath,” Ahmed said.
BNP won 209 of 297 seats, while Jamaat-e-Islami secured 68 seats in the 13th parliamentary elections. Deposed premier Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League was barred from contesting.
According to the schedule, President Mohammad Shahabuddin would administer the cabinet oath, installing BNP in power in the afternoon. The Constitution requires the President to invite the majority party leader, Tarique Rahman, to form the government.
BNP invited about 1,200 domestic and foreign guests. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will represent India, accompanied by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary-General of Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singh. Maldives President Mohammed Muizzoo, Turkish Undersecretary Beris Ekinci, and Sri Lanka’s Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa will also attend Rahman’s swearing-in. PTI