Many of its leaders observed that the eight-month old party, formed mostly with renegade BNP leaders, is going to face existence crisis shortly.

The party vice president Feroz M Hassan quit the party yesterday protesting undemocratic practices within the party.

"Unfortunately, those who stood for the unity of the party, raised voice about democracy and reforms in the party, and did not side with any one of you, were either show caused or unilaterally expelled," Firoz said in his resignation letter to Badruddoza.

Severely criticising Badruddoza, Mahi, Oli and Mannan for their undemocratic attitudes and practices within the party, Firoz in his letter said that these leaders have betrayed the party and the nation.

The party organising secretary Mahi B Chowdhury, also son of Badruddoza, resigned from the party on June 12.

Although LDP Secretary General Maj (retd) Abdul Mannan had recently taken initiatives to minimise the disagreement between Badruddoza and Oli, all efforts went in vain, party insiders said.

The distance between the two leaders grew further when recently Oli accused Badruddoza of not signing the constitution. Oli told reporters that although the party constitution had been prepared on majority consensus, Badruddoza did not sign it.

Talking to The Daily Star, many LDP leaders said that conflict between the two feuding factions has reached the grass-roots level.

The supporters of the two leaders have been engaged in the battle of comments and issuing statements and counter statements to the media, demanding punishment and expulsion of their rivals. The Badruddoza group is using the party's Baridhara office while the party's Maghbazar office is being used by the Oli supporters.

Leaders from both factions told The Daily Star that the decision of forming LDP was made without any discussion in the party forum. Many leaders became anxious about the party's existence as they said that questionable people, including corrupt and even patrons of militants, were taken into the party.

In a bid to establish absolute power, both Badruddoza and Oli have been show-causing leaders of their rival factions, which might witness an outburst after the lifting of the ban on indoor politics, LDP sources said.

About the reported conflict with Badruddoza, his rival Oli told The Daily Star that if anybody does not like reforms in the party, he may leave. "The LDP was not formed to make anybody the monarch or a king," Oli said.

Badruddoza, however, kept mum over the current state of the party. Sources close to him said that he is observing the situation and might tell the media about his stand soon.