Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked police personnel to discharge their duties with the utmost professionalism and uphold democracy in the country apart from maintaining peace and stability.

BNP MP Rumeen Farhana today told the parliament that the fall of the present government is just a matter of time after reports of different international organisations against them.

BNP senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain yesterday described the government’s move to enact a law on the formation of the Election Commission (EC), after the president’s dialogue with political parties, as just another “joke”.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud today said the government has evidences that BNP hired lobbyists abroad to work against the country.

BNP yesterday demanded a proper investigation, alleging that Awami League, not them, spent public money to hire lobbyists abroad.

Turning down the allegation of hiring any lobbyist in the USA, BNP today categorically said it is Awami League that spent huge public money by appointing lobbyists abroad to hush up its “misdeeds and repressive acts”.

The ongoing parliament session is set to pass a law aiming to give legal cover to the chief election commissioners and other commissioners appointed through search committees in the past.

Defeated Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) independent mayoral candidate Taimur Alam Khandakar, who was expelled from BNP, said he wants to work as an activist of the party.

BNP yesterday termed the government’s allegation of recruiting lobbyists abroad to campaign against Bangladesh “baseless” and “fabricated”. 

Taimur Alam Khandakar, the defeated independent mayoral candidate of the recent Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) polls and an expelled BNP leader, today said he wants to work as a BNP activist.

BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain today said that the allegations of lobbying in the US against the party are baseless and fabricated.

BNP yesterday expelled Taimur Alam Khandakar, who lost the Narayanganj city corporation polls, and BNP Narayanganj city unit General Secretary ATM Kamal for violating party discipline.

BNP yesterday said the draft law on the Election Commission (EC) formation will not yield any positive outcome as the party thinks it will only protect the interests of the ruling party.

The government has decided to investigate the source of BNP’s lobbying money, amounting to at least $3.75 million, that BNP spent in the last several years to campaign against Bangladesh, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam yesterday.

Just a day after he lost the election in Narayanganj City Corporation, Taimur Alam Khandakar was expelled from BNP yesterday for violating the party’s discipline.

A Dhaka court yesterday adjourned the hearing of the Niko graft case gainst BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and eight others till March 8. Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Special Judge’s Court-9 of Dhaka passed the order after a petition was filed with the court on behalf of Khaleda, seeking an adjournment, Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder, one of her lawyers, told The Daily Star.

A day after the government approved the draft of a law to form the new Election Commission through a search committee, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan said the proposed law is the same old “rotten system”.

Nearly 50 years after the constitution prescribed enacting a specific law for forming Election Commission, the government has finally approved the draft of a law to appoint the chief election commissioner and other commissioners through a search committee.

The ruling Awami League yesterday placed four proposals to President Abdul Hamid including one for enacting law to form the Election Commission in line with article 118 of the constitution.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam yesterday told parliament that he has proof on how much money the BNP-Jamaat has given to US lobbying firms in the last five years.