Hasina asks Khaleda to come down to field

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the general elections will be held on schedule next month, rejecting opposition's demand for postponing it and asked her arch-rival Khaleda Zia to come to the field instead of staying at home.

"If you want to wage any movement, come to the field," Hasina said with an oblique reference to Zia, in her introductory speech at the adjourned meeting of the Awami League Parliamentary Board (ALPB).

The Prime Minister asked the people of the country to be prepared to vote and elect their representative, saying the elections will be held at the "right" time.

"The election will be held on schedule and the people will take part in it," Hasina said.

Her remarks came as large-scale violence erupted in the country during the opposition's nationwide blockade against the ruling Awami League government's plans to hold the parliament election January 5. "For your agitation, children are being turned into criminals," Hasina said.

Hasina claimed the opposition leader was killing innocent people and was pushing the country towards anarchy. She added that the opposition leader had kept herself aloof from the street-level agitation and was living a lavish life at her house.

The Chief Election Commissioner on November 25 announced that the tenth parliamentary elections will be held on January 5. It later said the polls could be postponed if consensus is forged by the country's feuding political parties.

According to the constitution, the parliamentary elections should be held under the "interim" government by January 24, 2014. BNP, the main opposition party, has been demanding to have the national election held under a non-party caretaker government.

At least 21 people have been killed as BNP and its allies held protest rallies across the country to push for the postponement of elections.

The country had hit a political deadlock on how the next elections should be held.