BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday alleged that the government is plotting to send Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus to jail out of vengeance.

"This is such a government which does not know how to show minimum respect to virtuous people. Dr Yunus is the only person in Bangladesh who won a Nobel Prize. They (govt) are now working against him in a way that he will be thrown in jail," he said.

Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader said a ruling party minister exposed the government's move to imprison Dr Yunus by saying that even the President of America had to go to jail.

Fakhrul said the charges brought against the ex-US president and Dr Yunus are not the same.

"You (the government) are trying to send Dr Yunus to prison because of personal vendetta. You're trying to send him to jail and victimise him by filing cases, bringing the charges against him because of enmity," the BNP leader observed.

He slammed Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader for his comment that BNP was trying to play an evil game to make a political gain by making Prof Muhammad Yunus an issue.

"We have no reason to depend on Dr Yunus. We're completely relying on the people of this country. We believe that the people of this country are the source of all power and the people will establish their government and change their destiny," the BNP leader said.

He said their party is going to people to encourage them to come forward to bringing a change in the government.

"Why don't you want to hold the election under a non-partisan neutral government? The reason is that you know very well that if you do that, you won't even get 10 seats," Fakhrul said.

The discussion programme was arranged by pro-BNP student leaders of Ducsu and All Party Students Unity (Apsu) of the 90s at Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) on the occasion of unveiling the cover of book on the mass uprising in the 90s against autocratic ruler HM Ershad.

The book was written by Aman Ullah Aman, a member of the advisory council of the BNP Chairperson and a former VP of Ducsu.