Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Abdul Hamid demanded in House disclosure on property of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and members of their families to end a flurry of controversies concerning accumulation of wealth through corruption, reports UNB. Abdul Hamid stipulated this while participating in discussion on the President's address in the Parliament Tuesday. Hamid said: "Let the Speaker make an inquiry or there be a judicial inquiry to find out the previous and present property owned by the Prime Minister and her family members as well as the opposition leader and her family members." Hamid said if such inquiry could be held, Bangladesh would be able to erase its stigma of being dubbed a number-one corrupt country. He said such investigation should also be conducted into the property of ministers and MPs gradually to prove whether "we are corrupt or not." "We must know whether we have actually committed corruption or not. It should be settled once for all. Then people will have confidence in this parliament," said Hamid, the ex-speaker of the House. Unveiling a stark public perception about political spoils, the Awami League leader said it is profitable business to become MP. "If you spent one crore in election, you could make five crore; if you spent five core, in that case you would make 10 crore after becoming MP." "If the inquiry is done, those who consider it as a profitable business would not be interested to come in parliament," he said. On the opposition's electoral reform proposals, Hamid said while in power in 1996, BNP had opposed the concept of caretaker government, but later conceded to it in the troubled waters. "When the water was crystal clear, you did not drink it, but you drank the dirtied waters," he reminded, to put across a message as to what next. On the government's suggestion for bringing the reform proposal in the form of a bill to parliament, the former Speaker said in 1996, the opposition did not bring any bill on caretaker government. Rather it was the ruling BNP that brought the bill. "We can't bring the bill as we're minority in the House," he told the House and asserted that the opposition proposals must be accepted. "Drink the water so long as it is clear…Otherwise you will have to drink the muddied water."
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