Tarikat Federation, a partner of the Awami League-led 14-party ruling alliance, yesterday categorically said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia would not be able to walk out of jail before the 11th parliamentary election, slated for December.
"There's no way she is getting released from jail,” Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandary, chairman of the party, said while addressing a programme at the Institution of Engineers' Bangladesh in Dhaka.
When asked, he told The Daily Star, “Though it's a sub judice matter, I understand the reality. And it's the fact."
Bashar also said no government will be formed under the leadership of former president Ziaur Rahman's family member in the country ever again.
"BNP's politics is doomed. Tarique Rahman (Zia's elder son) will be sent to jail if he is brought back home," he added.
The Special Court-5 in Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to rigorous imprisonment for five years on February 8 after she was found guilty in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
Around a month before Khaleda's jail sentence, Jatiya Party Presidium Member Mashiur Rahman Ranga, also state minister for rural development and co-operative division, at a programme in Cox's Bazar on January 18, had said the BNP chairperson will have to go to jail in the next 15 days.
In addition, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, at a views exchange meeting in Lalmonirhat on January 23, had said Khaleda Zia will have to go to jail within a few days.
Soon afterwards, the BNP chief landed in prison.
