BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said, the countrymen believe Begum Khaleda Zia was poisoned during her imprisonment by the ruling government.

"The ruling government has no public support. They are engaged in schemes to eliminate their political opponents," he said speaking at a press conference organized at the party's central office in Nayapaltan on Monday (October 16).

"In that regard, they have adopted various methods, starting from the use of poison in the food, giving farce sentences in the name of justice and forced disappearances, and murder," the BNP leader said.

"The people of this country believe that Begum Khaleda Zia was given poisoned food by the Awami League government in a well-planned manner," Rizvi also said. 

"Sheikh Hasina's speech in London makes it clear. An allusion to revenge without judgment and consideration was implicit in her speech. Obstruction of advanced treatment of Begum Zia is proof of that," he added.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a speech in London on 3 October said that she allowed Khaleda Zia to stay home after suspending her jail term in a corruption case with the executive power vested upon her as the head of the government.

Rizvi said Khaleda Zia went to London in 2017, and when she returned home three months later in September, she was completely healthy. “A few months later, on February 8, 2018, she was sentenced and jailed in a false case.”

BNP leader Rizvi asked: "If Khaleda Zia entered the jail in good health, then how did she get such a complex incurable disease?"

Adding that she did what he could as per the law, PM Hasina said there is nothing to do in case of sending Khaleda Zia abroad for treatment.