BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia focuses on maintaining unity to thwart any attempt to split her party ahead of the next parliamentary elections.
Insiders fear the government might make an attempt to split BNP if Khaleda was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, the verdict of which is scheduled to be announced on February 8.
Khaleda held a meeting with the party's standing committee members, the highest policymaking body, on Saturday where she repeatedly told her colleagues to keep unity at any cost in the coming days.
“Madam [Khaleda] listened to us [standing committee members] but did not say anything about movement. She has rather stressed maintaining unity at any cost in the coming days,” a standing committee member told The Daily Star asking not to be named.
Another standing committee member, Moudud Ahmed, said, “People may attempt to split our party, but their attempt will surely fail and they will be condemned. There is no such individual in either BNP or Awami League to take the leadership of the party and do something worthwhile.”
Referring to various incidents, the former law minister added those who had made attempts to split BNP were later treated as government agents and AL B-team and their political career abruptly came to an end.
Earlier on Thursday, the Special Court-5 in Dhaka fixed February 8 to deliver the verdict in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against Khaleda and five others.
At Saturday's meeting, party leaders said they would not contest any polls keeping Khaleda out of the electoral race. At the same time, they also suggested not going for any tough programmes like hartal and strike right now.
The BNP leaders discussed different programmes like voluntary imprisonment, boycotting the national polls and agitation if Khaleda were convicted.
The party would finalise the strategy after holding a series of meetings with its leaders from different tiers and the alliance partners.
Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of BNP, said the party would hold its national executive committee meeting on February 3 and the venue would be finalised soon.
Khaleda would listen to voices from the grassroots about the future course of action as the current year is very crucial for politics because of the parliamentary election to be held by the end of this year.
Since formation of the 502-member strong executive committee in 2016, BNP is going to listen to the leaders for the first time on February 3, although the committee was supposed to sit twice a year.
The executive committee is comprised of the standing committee members, advisers to the party chief, vice-chairmen, organising secretaries, assistant organising secretaries, joint secretaries and district-level senior leaders.
The BNP-led 20-party alliance is also set to discuss the possible verdict and its strategy at a meeting today.
“All senior leaders are ready to get voluntarily arrested if the chairperson was sent to jail unlawfully,” BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said.
On July 3, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the graft case with Ramna police accusing Khaleda, her elder son Tarique Rahman, now in the UK, and four others for misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that came as grants for orphans from Kuwait through a foreign bank.
“We would like to say if any unjustified verdict is given against Khaleda Zia, we will initiate a movement to ensure the fall of the government,” Mosharraf said at a discussion at Dhaka Reporter's Unity (DRU).
Issuing a note of warning, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, another BNP standing committee member, said, “Do you [government] think we will only shed tears if you send Khaleda Zia to jail? We will not cry rather we will ensure your fall before her release.”
On the other side, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader came down heavily on his political counterpart Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for his comments on the upcoming verdict.
He alleged that Fakhrul has already committed contempt of court by issuing a threat not to accept the upcoming verdict.
“The court should take the issue in cognisance,” Quader observed.
