BANGLADESH

Awami League MP Tanjim Ahmed, also known as Sohel Taj, has expressed his surprise and frustration over speaker Abdul Hamid's rejection of accepting his resignation from parliament.

"I am surprised, stunned. I have talked to the speaker on more than two occasions after sending the resignation letter and have made it clear that I am resigning consciously and willingly. None pressured me," Tanjim, who is currently at Maryland, has told by phone.

"The honourable speaker assured me that he would let me know about his decision over my resignation. But he did not do that, rather he talked to media," Taj added.

Speaker Abdul Hamid on Wednesday said his office did not accept Taj's resignation from parliament on technical grounds and that the letter was not properly submitted.

The Speaker pointed out that the letter was not accepted as it did not have the words 'willing to resign' in line with the Section 67 of the Constitution.

"One has to write his resignation letter himself. But Sohel Taj's one was typewritten."

"Moreover, the signature and the date were written using two types of ink and they seemed to have been written by different people," he added.

The Gazipur-4 MP's personal aide had handed in the letter to the Speaker's office on Apr 23, nearly three years after the son of Bangladesh's Liberation War-time prime minister, Tajuddin Ahmed, had 'resigned' as a junior minister.


He joined Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet as the state minister for home on Jan 6, 2009. Only five months into taking of oath, he had resigned on May 31 the same year. After his resignation, the government had said that the president had not accepted the resignation.