Dhaka, March 12 -- BNP senior leader Mirza Abbas on Wednesday said that the public perception that the national election might be deliberately delayed under the guise of reform is not unfounded.

"The government has put forward reform programmes ahead of the election. But, I have found nothing new in their reform proposal that is not already included in our 31-point proposal. So, the nation's perception that the reform issue is being used as a pretext to delay the election is not baseless," he said.

The BNP leader made the remarks while addressing a workshop on BNP's 31-point proposal for state structure reforms, organised by the Dhaka South city unit of BNP at the Railway Officers' Club ground in Shahjahanpur.

Abbas, a member of the BN...