Tarique rejects unity govt offer, says his party set to win:Reuters exclusive

Online desk: Bangladesh’s leading prime ministerial contender and BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman has rejected a proposal from his main rival for a unity government after elections next week, saying his party was confident of winning on its own.

During an interview with Reuters at his party office, Tarique dismissed the idea of sharing power with Jamaat-e-Islami, the BNP’s main rival in the February 12 parliamentary election.

His aides said the BNP was confident of winning more than two thirds of the 300 parliamentary seats up for grabs. The party is contesting 292 of them, with allies vying for the rest.

Tarique Rahman declined to give a number but said “we are confident that we’ll have enough to form a government”.

All opinion polls have forecast a BNP victory but also a stiff challenge from the Jamaat alliance, which includes a Gen Z party that emerged from the youth-led anti-Hasina protests.

According to Reuters, New Delhi’s decision to shelter Hasina, whom a Dhaka court last year sentenced to death for her role in the crackdown, has badly strained Bangladesh-India relations while giving China an opening to expand its investments and political outreach.

Asked whether he would pivot away from India toward China should he win, Tarique Rahman said Bangladesh needed partners capable of boosting economic growth for its nearly 175 million people.

“If we are in the government, we need to provide jobs for young people. We need to bring businesses into the country so that jobs can be created and people can have a better life,” he added.

“So whoever, while protecting the interests and sovereignty of Bangladesh, offers what is suitable for my people and my country, we will have friendship with them, not with any particular country.”

Asked whether Hasina’s children were free to return from abroad and engage in politics, he said: “If someone is accepted by the people, if people welcome them, then anyone has the right to do politics.”

Hasina’s Awami League is banned from contesting the election. Many senior leaders and members of her family were already abroad before her fall or fled around that time.

Bangladesh hosts nearly 1.2 million Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled successive crackdowns in neighbouring Myanmar.

The interim government said last year it had no capacity to allocate additional resources for the refugees “given our numerous challenges” and called on the international community to help repatriate them.

Tarique said he too wanted them to return home but only when conditions were safe.

“We will try to work on the issue so that these people can go back to their own land,” he said. “The situation has to be safe for them to go back there. As long as it is not safe, they are very welcome to stay here.”