11-party alliance boycotts cabinet oath ceremony

Leaders of the 11-party alliance, including the National Citizen Party (NCP), have decided to boycott Tuesday’s (February 17) cabinet swearing-in ceremony.

The announcement was first made in a verified Facebook post by NCP spokesperson Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan.

He said the alliance would not attend the cabinet oath as members of the Constitutional Reform Council did not take their oath.

The decision was echoed by the alliance’s joint coordinator Abdul Hannan Masud.

However, the alliance’s elected representatives have taken oath as Members of Parliament and as members of the Constitutional Reform Council.

NCP Member Secretary Akhtar Hossain said the oaths were taken out of respect for the people’s mandate, while the cabinet ceremony would be boycotted.

Earlier, BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed stated that his party was not elected to the Constitutional Reform Council and therefore could not take the oath.

In response, Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher had said his party would refrain from taking the parliamentary oath if BNP did not, though Jamaat’s elected MPs later took oath.

Despite boycotting the cabinet ceremony, the 11-party alliance has participated in the parliamentary and Constitutional Reform Council oaths.