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Seat row to linger

Hasina speaks against increase in opposition quota; unilateral debate at Sangsad; BNP sticks to boycott

Staff Correspondent
Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina yesterday spoke against more front-row seats in parliament for BNP.
Hasina's thoughts on the issue was revealed in a meeting of AL's central working committee where two AL presidium members requested her to reconsider and give one or two more seats to BNP to avoid a "meaningless" row over where the opposition lawmakers sit in parliament, party sources said.
Leaders who attended the central working committee meeting told The Daily Star that Tofail Ahmed and Kazi Zafarullah told Hasina that the people would be happier and unnecessary debate would stop if the government considered giving BNP more seats in the front row.
Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina told them that all BNP "personalities" have seats in the front row and they would have been given more if they had stalwarts like M Saifur Rahman. She also pointed out that the last BNP-Jamaat alliance government did not even give assassinated former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria and deceased education minister AHSK Sadeque front-row seats.
Sources said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury backed Hasina in the meeting.
However, Chief Whip Abdus Shahid yesterday said the seating plan in the House would be redone in the next session to bring the opposition MPs back to Sangsad.
He hoped the opposition would join the parliament in the current session so that the seat-rearrangement process could be simplified.
But BNP says they want to return to parliament if this issue is settled.
"We want to join parliament proceedings but the speaker will have to take the initiative in this regard," BNP spokesperson Nazrul Islam Khan told reporters after a party meeting at BNP Chairperson Khaleda 21ia's Gulshan office last night.
He also said it was not decent of the newly elected speaker to change the seats given to them by former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar.
Talking to reporters at his parliament office, the chief whip, however, said, "BNP should join this session as the issue of seats will be resolved in the next session." He apprehended that the redoing of the seating plan might be difficult if the BNP does not join the House proceedings this session.
Meanwhile, the House yesterday witnessed a brief
and unilateral "debate” over seating plan in parliament in protest of which the BNP-led opposition is boycotting parliament proceedings.
Participating in the debate, AL-led grand alliance lawmakers blasted former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar for creating the problem by unilaterally allocating all the front-row to his left to opposition lawmakers.
They also criticised the BNP-led opposition for boycotting the House and urged them to return.
Taking the floor on a point of order, independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim opened the debate, urging the treasury bench and the speaker to bring back opposition lawmakers to the House. “If the situation remains unchanged, a time may come when parliament will not have quorum to begin its proceedings,” he said.
Azim said the House is having dull days witnessing unilateral discussion in the absence of opposition lawmakers. He also termed the ruling alliance's overwhelming majority in parliament 'brute majority’.
Speaker Abdul Hamid expunged the word 'brute majority' in response to treasury bench lawmakers' demand.
When the debate ended, the speaker again urged the opposition legislators to return to the House, and said it is not a major problem. “I hope I will be able to solve the problem through discussion."
Rising on a point of order, AL lawmaker Sheikh Fazlul Karim blasted BNP for keeping off the House proceed-
ings.
Participating in the debate, AL legislator Suranjit Sen Gupta held the immediate past speaker responsible for this problem. “He (Sircar) could not become speaker of parliament, he was speaker of the BNP," Suranjit said.
Jatiya Samjatantrik Dal lawmaker Mainuddin Khan Badal also criticised Sircar for unilaterally making the seating arrangement.
At the inaugural sitting of the new parliament, BNP was present but it walked out later to boycott the speech of President lajuddin Ahmed for his alleged breach of oath.
BNP lawmakers and their three allies staged a second walkout on January 28 protesting the new seating plan of the front row that overturned Sircar's arrangement.
New Speaker Abdul Hamid gave the main opposition party four front-row seats, which prompted them to stage the walkout.
Since then the BNP has been saying that they would not join parliament proceedings until the speaker decides on their demand for three more seats in the front row.
The treasury bench outright rejected the opposition demand.