Road Transport Minister and Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said the hearts of the BNP leaders are getting burnt as the long-cherished Padma Multiple Bridge is set to be inaugurated on June 25 next.
"When the country's people are happy as the Padma Bridge has been built, the BNP and its allies have been suffering from agony in hearts," he said while speaking at the member renewal function and Eid reunion of Chattogram City unit of Awami League, joining virtually from his official residence on Wednesday.
Quader said once BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia stated that there would be no bridge as the government would fail to construct it. "The Padma Bridge has been constructed and now we are waiting for its inauguration," he added.
Calling upon the AL leaders and workers across the country to get prepared on the occasion of Padma Bridge inauguration on June 25 and the AL's founding anniversary on June 23, he said today cheerfulness is prevailing among the people all over Bangladesh, including the people living on the banks of the Padma River.
Criticising the BNP for its misrules, the AL general secretary said the party has nothing to show before the country's people ahead of the upcoming general elections.
"During the BNP's reign, there was nothing to show to the people except the corruption of Hawa Bhaban and (BNP acting chairperson) Tariq Rahman, and the embezzlement of orphans' money by its leader," he said.
Asking the AL leaders and workers to show good attitudes to the people, Quader said the people should be made happy with good behaviours, otherwise Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's success and development would be tarnished.
Urging the AL men to remove dishonest and greedy leaders from the party, he said: "We do not want to see any internal disputes in Chattogram anymore. We have to hold the conferences of Chattogram north and south city units soon".
Chaired by acting president of AL Chattogram city unit Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury, the meeting was attended, among others, by AL joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif, organising secretary Abu Sayed Al Mahmud Swapan, agriculture and cooperatives secretary Faridunnahar Laili, relief and social welfare secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, finance affairs secretary Begum Wasika Ayesha Khanam, deputy publicity and publication secretary Aminul Islam, general secretary of AL's Chattogram city unit AJM Nasir Uddin and deputy minister for education Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury Nawfel.
Earlier in the day, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Quader along with the AL central leaders paid homage to the poet by placing wreaths on his grave on Dhaka University campus here.
AL joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretary Ahmad Hossain, central leader Dr Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin, cultural affairs secretary Asim Kumar Ukil, science and technology affairs secretary Abdus Sabur, office secretary Biplob Barua and deputy office secretary Sayem Khan were, among others, present.
