Awami League (AL) General Secretary Abdul Jalil yesterday said his party wants an official accounting of the source of crores of taka that the BNP has spent on union representatives' conferences.

"We shall write a letter to the BNP inquiring by what right it has spent this huge amount of public money and bring them to trial," he said.

Jalil was speaking at a discussion on the occasion of Independence Day, organised by Jatiya Sramik League at Bangabandhu Avenue in front of the AL office.

A large portion of money spent in the name of union representatives' FROM PAGE 16

conferences went into the pockets of the respective District Commissioners and Police Superintendents, he alleged.

The BNP-Jamaat government has divided the people of the country into two classes leaving most of them deprived of their minimum rights while giving opportunities for money and power to a select few, he added.

The AL leader reiterated his party's demand that it will not participate in the next election unless the necessary reforms in the caretaker government and the election commission (EC) are made.

"We, along with the 14-party alliance, are discussing the necessary reforms and will soon make specific proposals to the government to realise those."

The previous elections suggested that a fair election is not possible under a caretaker government headed by a person who is partisan. "This prompted us to think differently," he said, speaking as the chief guest.

He also demanded an election commission with a separate secretariat, its own budget and freedom from executive influence.

AL Joint General Secretary Obaidul Quader, meanwhile, came down heavily on the prime minister's recent speeches that AL is trying to foil the next election. "We want a fair election, not of the kinds that were held on February 15 in '96 and October 1 in 2001."

The Jatiya Sramik League leaders blamed the present government for the shut down of some 6,500 factories and industrial units.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund were also active in the country during the AL government, but the government then did not privatise the factories the way the present government is doing, alleged Sramik League General Secretary Roy Ramesh Chandra.

AL leaders Habibur Rahman, Begum Munnijan and Sramik League leaders Abdus Salam Khan, Hasan Ali Chandu, Shamsul Ali Milki, Khan Serajul Islam spoke at the discussion while Sramik League President Abdul Matin Master presided and Sramik League Joint General Secretary Aminul Haque Farook moderated.