The Dhaka city unit of BNP is likely to be split into two organisational units — Dhaka city (North) and Dhaka City (South) – soon in a bid to strengthen the party to begin a fresh movement to force the government to hold mid-term polls within short time.
Alongside with the probable split, new faces may come in the committees excluding incumbent convener Sadeque Hossain Khoka and member secretary Abdus Salam, as the BNP high command is not happy with their performance. The existing committee has failed to play any vital role in the anti-government movement in the recent time, said party insiders.
The party men held responsible the leadership of the committee for its failure to build up any strong resistance in the city prior to the January-5 ‘one-sided’ elections. BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia repeatedly asked the city unit leaders to take to the street to wage movement but they did not pay any heed, rather they went into hiding to avert arrest.
Sources said that the announcement of the new committees might come in next week. Khaleda Zia will make the announcement after discussing the matter with the city unit leaders and the party senior leaders.
BNP standing committee member Goyeswar Chandra Roy said that the matter of splitting the city unit was discussed in the party forum. He added that the city unit would be reshuffled soon to intensify the street movement. Hinting at excluding Khoka and Salam, he also said that the sacrifice of the devoted and tested leaders would be evaluated when the committee is reshuffled. Khaleda Zia will look after the whole process. BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, however, said that if anything is done about reshuffling or splitting the city unit, you would know in due time. A party leader however added that the standing committee, the highest policy making body of the party, has already decided to reshuffle the city committee. But the decision will be disclosed formally after finalising the probable body. As part of the initiative to finalise the body, Khaleda Zia sat with the leaders of the city BNP at her Gulshan office on Monday evening. Presidents and general secretaries or convenors of the thana ward units joined the meeting. The meeting was continuing till filing the report.
The Gulshan office sources said that the BNP chief discussed about the current political situation, party’s future strategy and line of action and other issues relating to the organisational activities to reorganise the party.
She may form a convening committee led by a party standing committee member. ASM Hannan Shah is likely to get charge of the convener while Sayeed Khokon might become the member secretary. If Hannan Shah refuses to take the charge, Mirza Abbas or any other standing committee member might be given the charge. The tenure of the committee will be one month during which all thana and ward committees will be restructured.
Goyeshwar Chnadra Roy, Amanullah Aman, Mohammad Shahjahan, Barkatullah Bulu, Moazzem Hossain Alal and Asaduzzaman Ripon are the probable candidates for the member secretary for the new committees.
The 11-member existing convening committee was formed in March in 2011 led by Khoka and Salam. The committee was asked to form thana and ward level committees within six months, but they failed. The committee has been accused of being inactive during the party’s movements.
