"The prime minister is trying to shift the blame for her misdeeds onto us (the opposition lawmakers) and to misguide the nation," Hasina, also the Awami League president, said in rebuttal to Khaleda's accusations against the opposition.

The prime minister at Monday's budget discussion in parliament mounted a scathing attack on the AL and labelled it as 'al-Qaeda, Taliban, terrorist and killer'.

"People know better who are Taliban," Hasina said at a meeting with a delegation of Bangladesh Teachers' Association at the party's Dhanmondi office.

"The prime minister formed the government with the fundamentalists who took to the street and shouted slogans in favour of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan," she said. Hasina accused Khaleda of trying to establish a Taliban styled rule in Bangladesh.

She also levelled allegations against Khaleda of sheltering criminals and linked her to bomb blasts in Narayanganj and at the Ramna Batamul.

Hasina said a charge-sheeted criminal in the Udichi bomb blast case is now serving the government as a cabinet minister.

"Another cabinet minister said in the past that they distributed arms to students to strengthen movement," she added.

Refuting Khaleda's speech blaming the AL for the ammunition haul in Bogra, the AL chief demanded that the persons behind the arms deal be tracked down.

She blamed the prime minister for nominating a person with a dark past for the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) secretary general. "Illegal arms were seized from his car at least twice," Hasina said, alluding to Prime Minister's Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

The leader of the opposition came down heavily on the government for harassing newsmen of two private TV channels, who were assigned to reporting on the ammunition haul in Bogra.

"It seems as if the government would remain in power for ever. They (the ruling BNP lawmakers) are using invective with careless abandon against the opposition," she said.

Hasina once again said that the government borrowed loans from the International Monitory Fund and the World Bank under strict conditions.

"The government will have to disclose the covert conditions for the loans and every parliament member has the right to know."

Talking about the prime minister's allegation that the leader of the opposition tarnished the country's image abroad, Hasina referred to a European Parliament resolution, Amnesty International reports, the State Department of the US and western media, which she said unveiled human-rights violations by the government.