Online Desk: Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has gone abroad to elevate the country’s prestige. “Sheikh Hasina did not go abroad to sell the country but she went abroad to elevate the height of the country (status). She went abroad to seek cooperation for the next budget and save the lives of those who are suffering from price hike of commodities,” he told a rally here.

Jatiya Sramik League arranged the rally in front of the AL’s Bangabandhu Avenue central office on the occasion of the May Day. Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went on a foreign tour not for her personal interest but for the peace of the country’s people. “And her visit has taken Bangladesh to a new height. This visit has made Bangladesh strengthened as a self-resilient nation,” he said.

The AL general secretary said about 11 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas are now a burden for Bangladesh but BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has made jokes over it. The Sheikh Hasina government has got US$ 300 million from Japan as budget support, while it is supposed to get US$ 500 million from the World Bank, he said.

“BNP cannot tolerate this. The BNP’s movement has gone down. BNP’s movement is as lost as a pathless passerby. BNP has faced defeat in politics. BNP has given veiled candidates in all city polls in the name of democracy,” Quader said. He said now BNP’s target to destroy the country’s economy as it is hatching innovative plots to halt the wheel of the economy.

Chaired by Jatiya Sramik League president Nur Qutub Alam Mannan, the rally was addressed, among others, by AL presidium member Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya Bir Bikram, joint general secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, organising secretary Afzal Hossain, Dhaka South City AL president Abu Ahmad Mannafi, Jubo League chairman Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapash and Sramik League general secretary KM Azam Khasru.