Opposition party in the 11th National Assembly was the Jatiya Party (JaPa). This time, the twelfth national parliament has not resolved the complications of whether the Jatiya Party will be an opposition party. Even though 15 days have passed after the election, there is still no clear answer to this question. However, the Jatiya Party is very interested in being the opposition party in the Parliament. They already held a meeting of the party's parliamentary group. In that meeting, who will be the leader of the opposition party, the deputy leader, the chief whip and the whip have been determined. A letter was sent to the Speaker informing them of their decision last Sunday afternoon. But the Speaker did not receive the letter that day because he was out of Dhaka.
Jatiya Party is also not sure whether the Speaker received the letter yesterday. Meanwhile, a total of 62 new parliamentarians, including 59 parliamentarians who were elected as independent candidates without being nominated by the Awami League, are active in the process of becoming opposition parties. Finally, we will have to wait and see who will be the opposition party. After the 12th National Parliament election was held on January 7, the new parliament members took oath on January 10. There is a constitutional obligation to hold a session within 30 days of taking oath. The date of the first session of the 12th National Parliament has already been fixed. Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury chaired the session on January 30 at 3:00 p.m. that day.
President Md. Sahabuddin convened this session. The new Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be elected on the first day of the Parliament session. The parliamentary party of Awami League which got an absolute majority as the speaker this time. Shireen nominated Sharmin Chowdhury and Deputy Speaker Shamsul Haque Tuku. But everything went well and the opposition remained in doubt. The Jatiya Party is also not sure whether they can sit in the opposition chair of the Jatiya Sangsad.
In the end, when the BNP did not come to the polls, the first question arose as to who is the opposition party in the National Assembly. Because the Jatiya Party is doing politics by keeping allies with the Awami League. They are also believed by the common people to be loyal to the Awami League, so there is a question from the beginning whether there will be any effective opposition party in the parliament. The Jatiya Party came to the polls after agreeing on seats with the Awami League before the election, meaning that the Awami League withdrew the candidature of boat candidates from at least 26 seats that had the support of the Jatiya Party. In other words, there is an open political compromise between the boat and plow symbols. In that case, the question arises in the mind of the common people whether any opposition party is going to the parliament to strongly oppose any irregularity and immature decision of the government. Questions like those before the polls remain after the polls.
Many of the parties other than the Jatiya Party that participate in the elections do not have popular support. Which is confirmed after the vote. Talking to reporters in Rangpur yesterday afternoon, Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader said that his party will be the opposition party in the Parliament as it got the second-highest number of seats in the parliamentary elections. However, he said that he has not yet received any official letter in this regard. GM Quader said, according to the rules, we will be the opposition party in the parliament. In a press conference at the political office of the Awami League president in Dhanmondi of the capital on the same day, General Secretary of the party and Minister of Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader said that the political party with the second highest number of seats in the election will be the main opposition party. Individuals are individuals. If the party says, then Jatiya Party. In other words, in terms of parties, Jatiya Party is in the second position among the winning parties in the elections.
A letter was sent to the Speaker's office on January 21 afternoon to inform the Speaker of the decision of the meeting of the Jatiya Party's parliamentary party. Since the Speaker is out of Dhaka (constituency Rangpur), he did not receive the letter on January 21 (last Sunday). Jatiya Party General Secretary Mujibul Haque Chunna said this. The secretary general of the party is not sure whether the speaker received this letter yesterday or Monday. However, the Jatiya Party has not received any letter or response from the Speaker or his office till yesterday evening, confirmed the party's General Secretary Mujibul Haque Chunna.
National Election Monitoring Council Chairman Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah talked about this. He said, as a party, the Jatiya Party is the second largest party in the 12th National Assembly elections in the second position based on the number of seats. On the other hand, the position of the independent 62 members of parliament is 'na gharka na ghatka'. Now if individual MPs join the Kalyan Party, Jasad, or Workers Party then they can remain in the opposition party. If they want to return to the Awami League, then party chief Sheikh Hasina's consent will be required, but this election expert does not think that she will agree to take these independent MPs into the party. However, Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah fears that individual MPs may run into complications if they want to have a separate forum or front.
Incidentally, the opposition party Jatiya Party won only 11 seats in the 12th National Assembly elections. After the majority party Awami League in this Parliament, the people elected as independent candidates got the highest number of 62 seats. If they ally (group) they will be the main opposition party and one of them will be the leader of the opposition party. And if the individual MPs do not form a coalition, then the main opposition party of the 11th parliament will be the main opposition party again.
ARS
