...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...yesterday said her government would not take any blame for something it had not done.
"I am confident that we did nothing wrong. We will not accept any calumny. Why should we take the blame for an offence we had never committed?"
The prime minister was speaking at the national council of Awami Swechhasebak League at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.
"How could corruption take place when the World Bank did not disburse any money? For whose interest have they cheated the people of Bangladesh by cancelling the loan agreement all of a sudden?" asked Hasina, president of the ruling Awami League.
She mentioned the government had so far spent Tk 1,500 crore on land acquisition and rehabilitation. And no corruption allegations had been raised, not even by the WB, over it, said Hasina.
"We have more than $10 billion in foreign-exchange reserves and it is not a big deal to spend $1 billion from it. Inshallah, we will be able to start the bridge's construction in time.
"We have to be bold to take the project forward. I know they [the WB] are very powerful but we want to say that Bangladesh won't bow to anyone."
"The people of this country fought a war against powerful Pakistain occupation forces at the call of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and defeated them. We are a triumphant nation. We will be able to build the bridge on our own."