Staff Correspondent

BNP standing committee member Selima Rahman on Friday claimed that those who are now extorting money in the name of BNP are infiltrators from Awami League.

“Still there are various words (allegations) of extortion in the name of BNP.… We want to make it clear that these people who do so in the name of BNP are infiltrators from Awami League. Be cautious. Don’t include anyone new in the party,” she said.

The BNP leader made the remarks while addressing a discussion at the National Press Club in the city.

Zia Projonmo, a pro-BNP platform, arranged the discussion on the occasion of providing donations, on behalf of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, to the families of the martyrs who were killed in the students-people movement.

Selima Rahman claimed that the men from Awami League are trying to enter the BNP now and they are joining the BNP in different places.

Pointing to the young generation, the BNP leader asked them to be disciplined as they are the future of this country and will rule this country. “You should be united with honesty,” she said.

The member of BNP’s highest policy-making body stressed the need for consolidating the unity further among the parties who were the partners of BNP during the simultaneous movement. "Now we want the whole nation to be united. We must stay united,” she said.

Paying tribute to those who made the supreme sacrifice in the students-people movement, Selima said the new generation has become voters but they could not vote for 17 years. No elected representative could be elected by the people, she added.

Lambasting deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the BNP leader said she did whatever she wished by hanging onto power. “During the movement of our students-people, she (Sheikh Hasina) shot and killed people indiscriminately like a genocide,” she said.

Selima Rahman said her party's movement continues as the men of the dictator don't sit idle yet. There are chaos, workers' unrest and gherrous programmes in different places, she said.

Many of those who are behind these ill activities were the AL men in the past and they are trying to fuel these chaos and workers’ unrest. “We have to stay vigilant,” she said.

BNP leaders Abdus Salam, Abdus Salam Azad, Mir Newaz Ali and Farida Yasmeen, among others, spoke at the discussion presided over by Zia Projonmo president Parveen Kawswr Munni.