Dhaka, February 17 – The BNP Parliamentary Party elected Tarique Rahman as its leader on Tuesday, paving the way for him to become the Leader of the House and later take the oath as Prime Minister of the country, according to Bangladeshi media reports.
As the party with the majority of seats, the BNP established the Parliamentary Party and held its inaugural meeting, chaired by Tarique Rahman, after its 208 MPs took their oaths at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban earlier in the day.
During the meeting, the Parliamentary Party elected BNP Chairman Tarique as its leader and the sole candidate for prime minister, according to a post shared on the BNP's Facebook page.
Speaking to journalists after the swearing-in ceremony, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also affirmed that Tarique, who has presented new plans and a vision for a "new Bangladesh," has been selected by the party's MPs to guide them in the Jatiya Sangsad, reports leading Bangladeshi daily, The Business Standard.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin administered the oath to the newly elected MPs, in accordance with the country's Constitution, as the offices of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 12th Parliament are vacant.
Reports suggest that the BNP MPs did not take the oath as members of the Constitution Reform Council.
At the outset of the oath-taking ceremony, BNP leader Salauddin Ahmed said that on instructions of the party chief, Tarique Rahman, all BNP's newly elected MPs have been instructed not to sign the Constitution Reform Council form, since they were not elected as members of the council, Bangladesh's leading newspaper, The Daily Star, reported.
Salauddin also said that the Constitution Reform Council is not part of the Constitution and must first be incorporated into the Constitution in line with the outcome of the referendum.
He added that detailed procedures are also required, with specific guidelines on who would administer the oath to members of the Constitution Reform Council.
The 13th parliamentary election was held alongside the referendum on the July National Charter on February 12 in 299 out of the country's 300 constituencies.
In the elections, the BNP won 209 parliamentary seats, while the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami secured 68 seats.
BNP's chairman Tarique, who won from two constituencies, vacated the Bogura-6 seat for a by-election and took oath as a member of Parliament from the Dhaka-17 constituency.
With Tarique now set to lead Bangladesh – the country last saw a male PM almost 35 years ago – experts warn that the nation faces a massive challenge of overcoming the unrest and rising Islamist extremism that marked the 18-month tenure of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
