US says it had no role in ousting of Bangladesh's Hasina

By Kanishka Singh and Costas Pitas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States had no role in ousting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who recently quit her position and fled the South Asian nation, the White House said on Monday, calling allegations of U.S. interference "simply false."

"We have had no involvement at all. Any reports or rumors that the United States government was involved in these events is simply false," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing when asked about reported claims of U.S. involvement.

A report in the Economic Times newspaper in India on Sunday had cited Hasina as accusing the U.S. of playing a role in ousting her because it wanted control over Bangladesh's Saint Martin island in the Bay of Bengal. The newspaper said Hasina had conveyed that message to it through her close associates.

Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wazed, in a post on X on Sunday, said she never made any such statement.

"We believe that the Bangladeshi people should determine the future of the Bangladeshi government and that's where we stand," the White House added.

An interim government in Bangladesh, led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in on Thursday with the aim of holding elections in the Asian nation.

Bangladesh was engulfed by demonstrations and violence after student protests last month against quotas that reserved a high portion of government jobs for certain groups escalated into a campaign to oust Hasina.

She had won a fourth straight term in January in an election that the opposition boycotted and which the U.S. State Department said was not free and fair.

Hasina went to New Delhi after leaving Bangladesh, ending her uninterrupted rule of 15 years.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)