Dhaka, Nov 15 (UNB) - Coming down heavily on BNP for attacking police and torching their vehicles, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked them not to hatch conspiracies to foil the forthcoming parliamentary elections.   “I would like to tell them that they should try to cooperate [with the Election Commission] in holding the election, not hatching conspiracies to foil the polls as they [BNP] decided to join the election,” she said.   The Prime Minister made the remarks in her introductory speech at a meeting of the Awami League Parliamentary Board at her Dhanmondi political office.   Sheikh Hasina, also the AL President, said they had conspired during the election in 2014, but could not succeed. “They won’t be successful this time too as people are with us.”   She said people want the election to be held amid a festive mood and they can cast their votes in the election for formation of a government of their choice.   Sheikh Hasina said a festive mood has been created as all political parties and alliances, including Jatiya Oikyafront, have already announced to join the national election.

She said she is optimistic that the people of Bangladesh will reelect Awami League by casting their votes as her party developed the country massively in the last 10 years.

Mentioning that the country will continue to move forward and its development pace will keep going on, the Prime Minister said BNP wants to spoil the country’s progress.

Talking about Wednesday’s attack on police in front of BNP’s Nayaplatan central office, she said, “When there’s a festive atmosphere, BNP feels very unwell. They pour water on the festivity.”

Sheikh Hasina said a BNP leader surprisingly came there in a procession and launched the attack that left many policemen wounded and three police vehicles torched.

She said they have resorted to the arson attack again as they did in 2014 and 2015. “With this, it has been proved that they can’t do anything other than resorting to violence and arson attack,” she said.

The Prime Minister extended her thanks to police for showing restraint and patience during the attack.

About the BNP leaders’ remarks that Bangladesh Chhatra League activists torched the police vehicles, she questioned when and why Chhatra League activists went there. “They (BNP leaders) are masters in shifting the blame on others after resorting to such activities,” she said, condemning the incident.

The AL President also criticised BNP for dropping the article 7 from its charter to pave the way for keeping corrupt persons at the party helm. “Through dropping the article 7, they’ve proved that killer, dacoit and corrupt element can be the leader of their party,” she said.

The Prime Minister urged the country’s people to resist any sort of violence, arson attack and terror activities.  

Terming vote as people’s democratic and constitutional right, she put emphasis on protecting it, saying her party will stand by them to this end. “We’ll always stand by people and definitely protect their rights. The democratic trend must be upheld to continue country’s development.”