Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram has said that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now reportedly in exile in India, offered him various inducements, but he did not accept them.
Hafiz Uddin made the remarks while addressing a meeting with senior district officials at the Bhola Circuit House on Saturday morning.
“I can say there was no temptation that Sheikh Hasina did not offer me. Had I followed her instructions, I would have been in a position just below hers,” the Speaker said.
He said, “I told them that I am now 80 years old. This is not the time for such things. I have never had any political ideology outside the Zia family. I have always walked my own path and spoken up whenever I believed something was right, regardless of criticism. Many asked me to leave the party, and even Hasina tried several times.”
Hafiz Uddin said he fought under General Ziaur Rahman and had always remained loyal to both him and Begum Khaleda Zia. “I was senior to many in the party (BNP), but others moved ahead of me and became members of the standing committee before I did,” he said.
He mentioned that, except for Dr Mosharraf Hossain, he was senior to most, yet did not secure a place in the standing committee. “I never worried about these matters. My focus was always on earning the people’s vote and being elected to parliament,” he added.
Referring to the latest election, he said voters had hoped he would return with a “flag,” adding, “By the grace of Allah, I have brought back two flags.”
Expressing gratitude, the Speaker thanked BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman, saying, “I am deeply grateful to him. I have only spoken to him twice in my life, and we have never met or communicated otherwise. Yet he entrusted me with the country’s third-highest position. For that, I am very thankful to him and my party.”
bd-pratidin/GR
