Dhaka, Feb. 18 -- Prime Minister Tarique Rahman sets a strong tone of his government in his maiden address on Wednesday night with a vow that all syndicates of irregularities and misdeeds will be dismantled.

"Our government is determined to break all syndicates of irregularities and corruption," he said, after the newly elected government began functioning earlier in the day.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairman, who steered his party into state power after return from 18 years in exile, pronounced his pledge that Bangladesh will be made a "safe haven for all with equal rights".

He made a call for businesses not to turn the holy Ramadan into a "month of profiteering" as the government set price control one of its priorities....