There is no logic, need or time for a referendum before the election: Salahuddin

BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed has commented that there is no logic, need or time for a referendum before the national election. He made this comment while talking to reporters at his residence in Gulshan in the capital on Wednesday (November 12).
Salahuddin Ahmed said, “There is no logic now, there is no time. Moreover, there is no need. Because if we can accept this consensus on the same day, that is, the day of the National Assembly election, in a small ballot, then that will be the most reasonable, relevant, acceptable and there will be no additional cost.”
He said, “There was no discussion on holding a referendum except for the dissent note in the consensus commission. The chief advisor cannot deviate from the statement that the national charter will be based on the issues on which the political parties reach consensus and the next elected parliament will implement the charter.’
The BNP standing committee member said, ‘There is a conflict of interest here. It is the responsibility of this government to implement the July national charter. We will cooperate as a political party, participate in the vote and motivate the people. But as the head of that government and as the chairman of the National Consensus Commission, I will say that the recommendations given to the government have deviated far from the way the July national charter was signed.’
He said, ‘We hope the government will not take any steps that will create division and disunity among the nation. I urge the interim government to work impartially.’ Salauddin Ahmed said, ‘In the final stage of the negotiations, two-three days before the signing of the July national charter, the chief advisor sat with all the political parties. We proposed there that the July National Charter should be signed through a historic ceremony and we are all committed to implementing that Charter.’
He said, ‘Thus, the Charter was drafted and there were about 84 points in that Charter. In different points of those 84 points, not all points, there were notes of dissent from us and various political parties on some issues. This dissent note is not a traditional dissent note. The dissent note states that if the political party or alliance that gave the dissent note expresses these issues in its election manifesto and gets the mandate of the people, then they can implement them accordingly.
When asked about the electoral pact with the NCP, the BNP leader said, ‘In politics, the last word cannot be said on all these issues, but so far no final proposal has come between the BNP and other political parties and the parties participating in the movement together. There has been no proposal from them or us yet on whether to form an alliance with the NCP or whether they will vote in alliance with us; However, the possibility cannot be completely ruled out – we will have to wait more.’
Expressing optimism about BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman’s return to the country, Salahuddin Ahmed said, ‘We hope he will return to the country by the end of this month. It may be a day or two, but we are optimistic.’