The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, GM Quader, on Tuesday cast doubt on the smooth functioning of the House because of poor ratio between the number of treasury and opposition bench lawmakers.
“There is doubt about how much this parliament will be able to represent the nation due to the imbalance between the number of the ruling party and opposition MPs. It might make the House incapable of carrying out its responsibility flawlessly,” he said.
GM Quader, also chairman of the Jatiya Party, came up with the remarks while extending greetings to the newly elected Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
The JP bagged only 11 seats in the January 7 national polls after it participated in the polls through a negotiation with the ruling Awami League. Out of 300 parliamentary seats, Awami League left 26 seats to the JP leaders. But, the rest of the JP candidates suffered a humiliating defeat in the polls boycotted by BNP.
The Awami League won in 223 seats while 62 independent candidates, mostly AL leaders, became victorious in the polls.
Securing only 11 seats, the JP emerged as the main opposition in parliament and GM Quader was made the leader of the opposition in the parliament.
Referring to the results of the 12th JS polls, he said, “Some 75 per cent of the seats now belong to the ruling party and 21 per cent are independent members. They are also almost part of the ruling party. Only 3 to 4 per cent are opposition party members.”
Referring to the colours – green and red – of the national flag, GM Quader said that if the ruling party is called red, then this parliament is completely red while the green is just a splash.
“It will be difficult to find the whole nation in this parliament. How much the present parliament will be able to represent the nation is a matter of question,” he said.
The JP leader said the parliament is a meeting place for all parties as there is the ruling party on one side and the opposition party is on the other side.
“Our intention was that both sides would be equal. Then there would be an equal fight between them. There will be arguments and debates focusing on their own opinions. Parliament will decide in favour of the people. This is the main objective of the parliament,” he said. “There has been a lack of balance in seat distribution,” he added.
