The Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, on Tuesday said that they were optimistic that the country would advance far under Tarique Rahman’s leadership.

He said, ‘This is a historic moment that after a period of torture and oppression, destruction of democracy and making parliament dysfunctional by the long fascist government...we got a parliament through a fair election at the cost of much blood of the people.’

The veteran BNP leader also said, ‘Through this parliament, having secured a majority of seats, we have elected our young leader Tarique Rahman, as the leader of the parliamentary party...We are optimistic that the country will advance far under his leadership.’

BNP chairman Tarique Rahman was unanimously elected as the leader of the parliament at a meeting of the parliamentary party held at 12:00pm at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir informed journalists of this after the parliamentary party meeting.

The BNP secretary general said, ‘In today’s first meeting of our parliamentary party, it has been decided that the BNP Members of Parliament will not take any duty-free cars. And we have also decided that no plots will be taken from the government.’

Earlier, at about 10:00am, the newly elected BNP MPs took oaths in the oath room of the Parliament Building. The chief election commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin administered the oath.

The election for the 13th national parliament was held on February 12.

The results of the election for two constituencies out of 300 seats in the 13th parliament remain suspended, and the election for one seat was cancelled due to the death of a candidate.

Among the remaining 297 seats, BNP won 209, Jamaat-e-Islami won 68, the National Citizens Party won 6, the Bangladesh Khilafat Majlish won 2, and Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Gonoadhikar Parishad, Bangladesh National Party, Gonosonghoti Andolon, and Khilafat Majlish each won one seat, while independent candidates won 7 seats.

BNP chairman Tarique Rahman vacated the Bogura-6 seat while retaining the Dhaka-17 seat yesterday. A by-election will be held in this constituency.