DHAKA: Speaker Abdul Hamid boldly said that he performed his duties in parliament with all neutrality and would go on presiding over the House without taking sides.

“There is no scope for the opposition parties to abstain from attending parliament on the excuse of Speaker’s biased role,” said the speaker to banglanews in a close discussion on Friday afternoon.

“As speaker, I was neutral in the past, presently I am and will remain so in the future,” said Advocate Hamid, a plain-spoken politician who got elected to Parliament in all but three of the ten general elections held in the country since 1970.     

The speaker expressed his hope that opposition BNP would join the upcoming parliament session, beginning September 20.

About the allegation of BNP regarding time allocation in parliament the speaker said, “Such allegations are nothing but a wrong way to take to avoid parliament.”

The speaker asked the opposition party for raising the issues in the parliament for a quick solution.

He also made a fervent call for forging a consensus of the government and the opposition party, both in and outside parliament, on national causes.

BDST 1840 HRS, SEP 2010