Dhaka, February 17 Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairman Tarique Rahman is set to become the country's Prime Minister after his party's Members of Parliament elected him as the leader of the parliamentary party, making it official.
This development came even as all the newly elected Members of Parliament from various parties took the oath of office, ending the stalemate over the Constitution Reform Council.
The right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami's newly elected MPs initially refused to take the oath of office after the victorious BNP declined to take the pledge as members of the "Constitution Reform Council".
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasirudin administered the oath of office to the BNP MPs inside the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban in the first phase, and the Jamaat MPs were next in line to take the oath.
The situation became complicated after the BNP declined to take a second oath as members of the "Constitution Reform Council" to endorse the referendum.
"We will not take any oath unless the BNP MPs take the oath as members of the 'Constitution Reform Council' along with the regular parliament members," said Jamaat's deputy chief Abdullah Mohammad Taher.
He said their party believed that "parliament without constitutional reform is meaningless."
The second oath is aimed at obligating MPs to implement the much-talked-about "July Charter," which demands a massive rewriting of the Constitution. The referendum presented an 84-point proposal in a complex and somewhat esoteric form for voting.
However, in a dramatic development after an hour, members of Jamaat and the National Citizen Party (NCP) took the oath as both MPs and members of the Constitution Reform Council.
The election commission reported that over 60 per cent of voters cast a "yes" vote in the referendum.
"We have not been elected as members of the Constitution Reform Council; no provision of the council has yet been incorporated into the Constitution," said BNP's policy-making standing committee member and newly elected member Salahuddin Ahmed.
He conveyed the decision to party MPs as directed by BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman as they gathered in the Parliament hall to take the oath.
"None of us (BNP members) will take the second oath," Ahmed said.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has won 209 out of 297 seats, while the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami secured 68 seats in the 13th Parliamentary elections. The Awami League, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was barred from contesting the polls.
The Awami League was disqualified from the February 12 polls, after which the BNP's once-longtime ally and now hardened rival, Jamaat-e-Islami, emerged as the main opposition.
According to the official schedule, President Mohammad Shahabuddin would administer the oath of office to the cabinet, installing the BNP in power in the afternoon.
The Bangladesh Constitution dictates that the President invite the majority party leader, Tarique Rahman, to form the government and administer the cabinet's oath.
The BNP has invited about 1,200 domestic and foreign guests to the event.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will represent India at the swearing-in ceremony of Rahman. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary-General of Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singh are also likely to accompany Birla.
The President of Maldives, Mohammed Muizzoo, Turkish Undersecretary Beris Ekinci, and Sri Lanka's Minister of Health and Mass Media, Dr Nalinda Jayatissa, would be among those attending Rahman's oath ceremony.
