Ending speculation about the Jatiyo Party's role in the new parliament, both Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and JP Chairman GM Quader yesterday said the JP will be the main opposition in the House.

Speaking to reporters at the AL president's Dhanmondi office, Quader said, "Jatiyo Party will be the main opposition in parliament and the independent MPs will remain independents."

Asked whether the situation in parliament would be the AL versus the AL, he said, "They [Jatiyo Party] are a political party. Why would the situation turn into Awami League versus Awami League?"

Expressing similar views, JP Chairman GM Quader said his party will be the main opposition in the Jatiya Sangsad as it won the second-most seats in the January 7 national polls.

Speaking to journalists in Rangpur yesterday, he said they were yet to receive any official letter from the parliament secretariat regarding the matter.

He said the JP will continue to raise its voice in parliament for the people like it did before. The party will also do constructive criticism of the government if it makes any wrong move, he added.

The ruling AL bagged 223 seats while the JP won only 11 in the January 7 election. However, independents, mostly ruling party leaders, won 62 seats.

The situation resembles the AL's victory in the first parliamentary polls on March 7, 1973.

The AL had then won 293 out of 300 seats and the opposition parties and the independents bagged the remaining seven.

The seven MPs had demanded that an opposition be formed but Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman disagreed. That's why there was no opposition party in the first parliament.