Sultan, Mokkabir inform Speaker about oath-taking

Gono Forum lawmakers-elect Sultan Muhammad Mansur Ahmed and Mokabbir Khan on Saturday sent separate letters to speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury to be sworn as members of the 11th parliament defying party decision.
In the letters, they preferred March 7 for taking oath.
Mokabbir, elected from Sylhet 2 constituency, told New Age that both Sultan and he sent the letters to the speaker and they would take the oath together.
Mokabbir, who contested the December 30 polls with Gono Forum electoral symbol rising sun and got support of the Jatiya Oikya Front including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said that he preferred March 7 for taking oath as it was a historic day.
Mokabbir, also Gono Forum presidium member, claimed that the party was ‘positive’ about taking the oath. 
Sultan Mansur said that he would take the oath by March 15 without detailing.
Sultan was elected from Moulvibazar 2 with BNP electoral symbol sheaf of paddy, also used by the Jatiya Oikya Front in the December 30 polls, marred by fraud and flaws.
BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed declined to comment over taking oath of Sultan.
Gono Forum general secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu said that he and the party did not know about the letter sent to the speaker.
He said if the two took oath they would betray the nation.
The front got only eight seats in the 11th parliamentary polls marred by flaws and fraud. 
BNP got six seats and Gono Forum got two while ruling Awami League-led grand alliance bagged 289 of the 300 seats.
The front hours after the polls rejected the results and demanded immediate fresh election under a neutral government. 
BNP and Gono Forum repeatedly made statements that the lawmakers-elect would not take oath as the front rejected the election results.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net