In response to Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader's call to join the upcoming national polls, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said that the temptations of the government will not succeed this time to deter his party from the ongoing movement.

"This time around, people are united. No conspiracy, suppression, temptation of the government can confuse or hinder this movement, he said in a press conference on Tuesday held at the BNP chairperson's political office in Gulshan.

"In 2018, we participated in the election trusting the words of Sheikh Hasina, but they didn't keep a single promise. Hence, I am calling on them to realise the pulse of the people and accept the 10-point-demand declared by the BNP," Fakhul warned, adding that the government should hand over the power to a non-party neutral government before it is too late.

Noting that the law ministry is working to prepare a list of cases levied against BNP leaders, Mirza Fakhrul claimed that the government is resorting to its old scheme of expelling BNP's national-level leaders from politics by proving them guilty in false cases filed in the past.

"Compared to other times, their political antics like arrests, cases and attacks have started much earlier this time. They have only one objective which is to clear the field before the elections," Fakhrul alleged.

He said, "Arrests, torture and raiding houses of BNP leaders and activists have continued despite the announcement of the ruling party's one-sided participation in the city polls. In Sylhet, BNP leaders and activists were arrested en masse while BNP leaders and activists were sued ahead of a Union Parishad election in Gazipur."