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Raushan defends JP's dual role in JS

Staff Correspondent
Opposition Leader Raushan Ershad yesterday in parliament defended her party lawmakers' dual role by labelling it as a 'new concept' and promised to play a due role as the opposition.
Three Jatiya Party (JP) MPs have been made ministers of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, while the remaining party lawmakers will play the role of opposition under Raushan's leadership.
This unprecedented situation has triggered enormous controversy, with parliamentary affairs experts terming it a breach of the norms of parliamentary democracy.
In the latest twist, the three JP lawmakers who were made ministers in the new government also took seats on the opposition benches.
"It's a new concept like the caretaker government system which did not exist before. But when the caretaker government system was introduced, then we all knew about it,” Raushan said while defending her party's dual role.
She was taking part in a brief discussion to felicitate Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on her re-election as Speaker.
"We want to play the due role of the opposition, though three of our MPs are in the government," she claimed.
"I don't know how much we will succeed. But there will be no lack of sincerity in us as we play the due role of the opposition," she said.
Raushan criticised the relationship between the previous ruling and opposition parties. "They never sat together to hold discussions on important national issues. We have to shun the path of politics of vengeance and hatred."
Terming the BNP's boycott of the January 5 parliamentary polls unfortunate, she said, "But the election was a must for the continuation of the country's democracy."
" People voted for us so that we can find solutions to problems through discussion in parliament," said Raushan, who was elected uncontested along with her party's 19 other MPs in the January 5 polls.
Interestingly, the BNP's boycott of the election gave Raushan the opportunity of being recognised as the opposition leader with the status of a cabinet minister.
Since the restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1991, either Khaleda Zia or Sheikh Hasina had been recognised as the leader of the opposition.
AL'S GENEROSITY!
JP lawmakers were allocated six seats in
the front row of the opposition benches, thanks to the ruling Awami League's generosity. The JP has 34 MPs including the three ministers.
Raushan, HM Ershad, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, Ruhul Amin Hawlader, Kazi Feroz Rashid and Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu were given seats in the front row.
Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu, Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon, Forest and Environment Minister Anwar Hossain Manju and Jute and Textile Minister Imajuddin Pramanik occupied the remaining four seats of the front row on the left side of the Speaker's podium.
In the past ninth parliament, the ruling AL locked horns with the main opposition BNP over the seating arrangements. At that time, outgoing Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar had allocated six seats for the main opposition BNP, which had 30 lawmakers.
But the ruling AL raised objection to this arrangement. Then the newly elected Speaker of the ninth parliament rearranged the seating plan, allocating only four seats to the BNP MPs in the front row, which triggered a parliamentary standoff.
The BNP MPs who joined the inaugural sitting of the ninth parliament on January 25, 2009 remained absent from the second sitting of the inaugural session in protest at the reduction of the number of their seats in the front row.
They had demanded that the Speaker allocate two more seats for them. After long negotiations, the Speaker allocated one more seat for the BNP in the front row, which resolved the standoff.