Four BNP lawmakers take oath at last moment

Bangladesh politics on Monday took a dramatic turn with fourlawmakers-elect of the Opposition BNP taking oath on the last day of the 90-day constitutional deadline after jailed ex-premier Khaleda Zia's party overnight changed its decision to stay away from parliament over alleged irregularities in the December 30 elections.The four lawmakers-elect of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party went to parliament late afternoon on the last day of the constitutional deadline and said they were taking oath as directed by the party's fugitive acting chief and Zia's elder son Tarique Rahman.Six BNP nominees including the party's secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir were elected to 300-seat parliament. One of them took the oath last week, defying the party's decision to be dubbed by compatriots as "betrayer".Alamgir later at a press briefing confirmed the party's decision of allowing the four lawmakers to join parliament but did not explain what barred him from taking the oath.This is our political decision...they took oath in line with our acting president Tarique Rahman's (Skype) meeting with the party's standing committee, he said.Alamgir, however, declined to comment on an unconfirmed report that he sent a letter to parliamentary Speaker Shirimn Sharmin Chowdhury, seeking an extended timeframe for him to take the oath under a constitutional provision exempting the 90-day deadline in particular situations.Wait to see what I do, he said.The four BNP MPs joined the ongoing session after the Speaker administered their swearing in ceremony.Media reports, meanwhile, suggested that the four lawmakers-elect mounted pressure on the party to allow them to take oath.BNP is now visibly exposed to a political wilderness as the party's chairperson Zia is now serving a 10-year prison term in two graft cases while a court declared asabsconding her son and acting party chief Rahman, who stays in London to escape a life term imprisonment for masterminding a deadly grenade attack in 20014.The December 30 polls elected a total of eight lawmakers of Opposition National Unity Forum (NUF) with BNP being its key partner.The alliance had vowed to stay away from parliament, citing irregularities in the elections.Two lawmakers elect of NUF partner Gano Forum earlier took oath. The party expelled one of them for defying its decision but kept mum about the other.

Four BNP lawmakers take oath at last moment

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