They said no way will the organisation be able to retain its popular support if it remains under the leadership of Tarique Rahman and the other big names now detained for alleged graft.

Some of them think that it might even face political extinction with Chairperson Khaleda Zia or her son Tarique at the helm as their image has suffered an irreparable damage due to "corruption to an unbelievable extent".

According to a BNP insider, a group of leaders want to reorganise the party under the guidance of Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan.

In last two weeks, leaders from different levels met Bhuiyan and requested him to take up the leadership and steer the immediate past ruling party out of troubled waters.

But the former LGRD and cooperatives minister neither welcomed nor dismissed the idea.

Things seem even more adverse for BNP with Tarique, senior joint secretary general, becoming known to have multiple foreign accounts. Allegations of graft are rife against most other senior leaders and key persons.

"You just name one who should run the party. We want to do politics but who will be our leader. They all are corrupt and they have no right to lead the party or the country," a former BNP lawmaker told The Daily Star recently, talking about arrests of Tarique and a number of ex-ministers and lawmakers.

A leader of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of BNP, said, "A popular party like ours cannot remain under the leadership of a group of thieves. Now we simply cannot do without self-correction."

"They (corrupt leaders) did not do anything for the party or the partymen. All they did was amassing fortune for themselves through illegal means and morally, they have no right to front the organisation," said a leader of Jubo Dal, BNP's youth front.

According to the sources, a good number of leaders of the party and its different wings believe that Tarique and his close aides are responsible for the present situation. They want a fresh start with a new person as their leader.

Some of them, who still have positive image among the people, have been repeatedly urging Mannan Bhuiyan to pick up the baton of leadership for the sake of the party's survival.

But Bhuiyan has yet to say anything in this regard. A source close to him said he is watching the situation closely and if called for he will take necessary steps once the government lifts the ban on political activities.

Tarique Rahman, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and two other standing committee members and two vice-chairmen were at the forefront in last five years as the party chairperson depended heavily on them for running the party as well as the country. But most of them are now behind bars on charges of corruption.

Corruption allegations have been raised against the front organisation leaders as well.

Most of them have gone into hiding since the drives against corruption and other crimes began.