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JS Seating Arrangement

BNP skips session, wants 3 more front-row seats

Staff Correspondent
The BNP-led opposition, who remained absent in the House proceedings since Wednesday, has demanded three more seats in the front row as a condition to return to parliament.
"If the Speaker doesn't meet the demand before resumption of the House proceedings on Sunday, we'll sit again to decide whether we'll join parliament or not," Opposition Chief Whip Joynal Abedin Faruk said yesterday.
Talking to reporters at his office, Speaker Abdul Hamid however said he doesn't have anything to do unless the treasury bench makes any concession itxe*ulve the seating arrange-
ment row.
A delegation of the opposition lawmakers led by MK Anwar yesterday met the Speaker at his office and placed the demand. The opposition sought three more seats in the front row, increasing the number of their seats to eight including one for the lone lawmaker of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
The opposition lawmakers waited inside the parliament building for the Speaker's response till the resumption of the House proceeding at 4:50pm.
As the Speaker did not inform them anything, they did not return to the House and held a meeting at the conference room of the opposition leader.
The Speaker yesterday evening informed Chief Whip Abdus Shahid about the opposition's demand and asked him to give feedback in consultation with leader of the House Sheikh Hasina.
Talking to reporters, Shahid said he will inform the Speaker after discussing the matter with Hasina.
The opposition lawmakers walked out of parliament prior to resumption of the House proceeding on Wednesday protesting against the new seating arrangement by Speaker Hamid. The new layout gives the main opposition BNP just four seats in the front row instead of nine allocated by the immediate past speaker Jamiruddin Sircar.
The-ruling Awami league opposes Sircar's arrangement saying it was disproportionate to the number of seats won by the opposition.
Following the new seating arrangement, the BNP-led opposition in fact continued their first walkout staged on Sunday from the inaugural session, boycotting the presidential address.
On Wednesday, they just entered the House but did not take part in the proceedings and left it protesting against the new seating arrangement.
Speaker Hamid yesterday blamed Sircar for the ongoing crisis. He urged the opposition lawmakers to return to parliament and not to make it an issue to boycott the House.
"Seating arrangement does not have any significance to make the House effective. If a cordial atmosphere is created among the treasury and the opposition benches, the seating problem will automatically disappear,” he observed.