Polls-time cabinet to be small, do routine work

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said that the polls-time cabinet would be small and the government would make no policy decision but do the routine work only.
Replying to a question of treasury bench member Tanvir Imam, the prime minister in a scripted answer said the highest law of the country was its constitution.
She said BNP was never in favour of a democratic continuation and cited history to bolster her claim. 
She also rejected BNP’s demand for a ‘supportive’ government and termed it unconstitutional.
Hasina said her government would always uphold the democracy.  ‘So we will not accept any government system contrary to the constitution,’ she stressed.
The prime minister recalled that she in her address to the nation had stated that the election-time government would be according to the article 126 of the constitution, Election Commission would do its duty and the size of the government would be small.
She came down hard on BNP saying that the party came into being violating the constitution and promulgating martial law.
So it was their (BNP) habit to make ‘illegal’ demands, Hasina said.
The prime minister claimed that BNP during the rule of Ziaur Rahman had held ‘referendum (yes/no) without voter’ and Zia had declared himself president removing president Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem using the military force without following any norms and rules.
Later these activities of him (Zia) were declared illegal by the Supreme Court, she said.
BNP after assuming in power in 1991 had committed ‘unprecedented rigging’ in by-elections of Magura and Dhaka, she mentioned, adding that the party had formed ‘illegal’ government through holding ‘election without voter’ on February 15, 1996.
BNP lost power within one and a half months in the face of mass movement, the prime minister said, claiming that BNP had totally destroyed the election system and democratic continuation.
Despite having clear framework of a caretaker government in the constitution in 2006, state of emergency was promulgated, she told the parliament.
They (BNP) had intention to stage a farce in the name of election through attempting to appoint the person of their choice as head of the caretaker government, she alleged.
And a caretaker government had stayed two years in power, she added.
In reply to a supplementary question of Samshul Haq Chowdhury, the prime minister during her question-answer session said that there were scopes and opportunity of investment in the country.
The government even took steps to create limited scopes for those who would intend to invest abroad, she told the session.
The prime minister said a system was in place to find out who smuggled money out of the country, she claimed, adding that the government already brought back money from Singapore siphoned off by BNP leader Khaleda Zia’s son. 
Hasina said the efforts of bringing back other smuggled-out money were underway.
She said even some money of Bangladesh Bank, which was stolen, was brought back.
Replying to another supplementary question of opposition Jatiya Party lawmaker Fakhrul Imam, the prime minister said that at this moment the government had no plan to increase retirement age in service as increasing retirement age would obstruct promotion of others

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net