The journey of 10th Parliament of the country begins tomorrow without the presence of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main political
rival of the ruling Awami League.
After the 23-year of parliamentary history, the BNP, one of the major political parties, and its allies will be absent from the House as
they did not take part in the January 5 elections.
The maiden session of Parliament will began at 6:00pm with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury in the chair. This will also be the first
session of 2014.
New Speaker and new Deputy Speaker will be elected from the lawmakers at the first sitting of the session.
With the election of the new Speaker and the new Deputy Speaker,
performing the responsibility of the country’s first women Speaker will be ended.
Parliament Secretariat sources said, the preparations for the session is at final stage. However, the allocation of seats was not finalised
as the opposition chief whip was not nominated till yesterday.
The Business Advisory Committee will decide the duration of the session at its meeting before the inauguration of maiden session.
As per the constitutional requirement, President Abdul Hamid will address the inaugural session. Abdul Hamid will join the session by
using the President Plaza. The President Plaza will be used after a long time.
The Parliament Secretariat has taken all out preparations ahead of the first session of 10th Parliament on Wednesday. The Parliament
Secretariat has been implementing 58-point working plan to run the session smoothly.
President Abdul Hamid summoned the session on January 13.
Since the present Speaker is not an elected MP, there is no scope for her to be elected Speaker for the 10th Parliament this time.
As of yesterday, it could not be ascertained as to who are going to be the new Speaker and new Deputy Speaker.
But speculation is still rife that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to select anyone as the speaker among Professor Ali Ashraf,
Fazle Rabbi Mia, Abdul Matin Khasru and former deputy speaker Shawkat Ali.
However, the names of new Speaker and the Deputy Speaker will be announced at the meeting of Awami League Parliamentary Party (ALPP)
meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister and Leader of the House Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Though the Jatiya Party will sit at the opposition bench, three of its lawmakers joined the cabinet led by AL chief Sheikh Hasina and its
chairman HM Ershad has been appointed as a special envoy of the Prime Minister.
However, the party has vowed to play a constructive role even sitting in the opposition bench to make the Parliament effective and
functional one.
The security has been tightened in and around the Parliament Complex as the new Parliament goes into its session tomorrow.
Apart from this, the Parliament Secretariat on Monday examined and checked the chairs and microphones of the House ahead of the session.
As of Monday, only one bill—Bangladesh Journalists Welfare Trust Bill—has been submitted at the Parliament Secretariat to place in the
first session of the new Parliament. – Staff Reporter
