The prime minister said 'a vested quarter is trying to create a political issue over the exploration of gas in the offshore of the Bay of Bengal.'

A conglomerate of Left parties and some non-government organisations have staged rallies and had a hartal (strike) last week to oppose the government's award of contracts.

'If I was in favour of selling out country's gas resources, my party would have come to power in the past. But, we did not come to power (last time) as we were totally against doing anything against people's interest,' she said.

Bangladesh's bid at gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal has been delayed by political uncertainties at home and absence of formalised maritime boundaries with neighbours India and Myanmar.

There have also been conflicting assessments of the availability of the gas. The assessment was low earlier, when Dhaka said it would not export gas since it does not have a surplus.

However, the government last week said it was examining experts' assessments that indicated greater availability of gas than before.

Hasina called it 'good news'.