Dhaka, May 13 (IANS) A senior leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has said that India was "the only friend" of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government.

"Bangladesh cannot depend on only one country - India. This cannot be allowed to go on," former minister Moudud Ahmed said Thursday, urging people "to get united to overcome the situation".

"The government has no friend other than neighbouring India. It has no connection with the Middle East," Moudud Ahmed, a BNP standing committee member, told a seminar here Thursday.

Ahmed alleged that the western countries were "no longer ready to recognise Bangladesh as their friend for disgracing Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus", Bdnews24.com, a news website reported.

The Grameen Bank founder quit Thursday after losing a prolonged legal battle with the Hasina government.

A former freedom fighter and Awami League lawmaker, Moudud Ahmed quit the party after being imprisoned by the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's government in the early 1970s.

Considered a legal expert, he has since served different parties and governments. He is considered close to BNP chief and former prime minister Khaleda Zia.

Zia has rejected the five deals that Hasina signed during her New Delhi visit in January last year, terming them a sell-out.

She has demanded that the government of her principal political rival quit and mid-term polls be held.