Lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)- led alliance Wednesday walked out parliament protesting rearrangement of lawmakers' seating in the House by the new presiding officer, according to dpa. A senior lawmaker of the BNP, M K Anwar, who led the protest, said that the new speaker of parliament made a unprecedented seating arrangement "unacceptable" to the opposition lawmakers. "We have decided to discuss the new seating order with the speaker Thursday to set our next strategy," he added. This was the second walkout staged by 31-member opposition in 300- strong parliament since its maiden session began Sunday and had two sittings so far. The newly-elected speaker of parliament, Abdul Hamid, changed the seating layout of the lawmakers giving five seats to two ministers and three senior leaders of the ruling Awami League-led alliance pushing the BNP MPs back to the second and third rows. He rearranged the seating plan made by his predecessor Jamir Uddin Sircar who had allocated 10 front-row seats to the opposition lawmakers. As soon as the session resumed, 22 out of 31 BNP-led alliance lawmakers walked about the House failing to draw attention of the speaker to raise the issue on the floor. The speaker was busy preparing for the day's regular business - the prime minister's question-hour at that time. The ruling party whip Abdus Shahid, however, said the opposition lawmakers are supposed to get three out 29 seats in the front row as per the proportion. The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed while responding to questions on parliament floor called upon the opposition lawmakers to return to the house. "I hope they will return to play their due role in the house. They will be given more time than what we were allowed in the eighth parliament (when the Awami League was in opposition)," she said. The main opposition lawmakers had staged their first walkout from the maiden sitting of the ninth parliament on January 25 before the speech of the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, accusing him of breaching his oath of office.
