"We are thinking of holding the council. We have been discussing among ourselves and might hold the council just after completion of our preliminary preparations," ZA Khan, an adviser to the BNP chairperson told The Daily Star last night.

AL Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed however said, "Even if the government gives permission to hold the council we won't be able to hold it with the ban on political activities."

Tofail, one of the top echelon leaders of AL reformists, demanded that the ban on indoor politics be lifted to facilitate holding of political parties' councils. But at the same time he expressed his doubts about the possibility of that happening.

Sources in BNP said the reformist leaders of that party started communicating with prospective councillors across the country. They have also been trying to convince the prospective councillors to support their 15-point reform proposal aiming to remove Khaleda Zia from the post of the party chairperson, so that it is adopted by the council.

AL Acting General Secretary Mukul Bose however told The Daily Star that they have not yet started lobbying their councillors. "But we are in contact with them," he said.

BNP sources said leaders close to Khaleda have also been keeping contact with grassroots level leaders in an effort to be prepared to tackle any embarrassing situation that might raise its head in the upcoming party council.

"The councillors will not accept any proposal aimed at only excluding Khaleda Zia from the party," said a BNP leader close to the current party chairperson.

AL reformists on the other hand said several thousand of their leaders and activists including around 2,800 councillors from across the country will have to gather at the council venue before the council starts, and it is impossible for them to come to the capital in such a large number under the state of emergency.

Moreover, the AL reformists said holding of meetings and political discussions in party forums including in the party's central working committee has to be allowed for holding a council.

AL Presidium Member Motia Chowdhury posed a question regarding how councils of political parties could be held with a ban still imposed on political activities. She told reporters yesterday that the councillors are not 'puppets' that they can be forced to follow the diktats of someone.

"When there is no right to express opinions, then how a council could be held?" asked Motia adding that the party's central working committee has to decide to hold a council before it could be held. "Even, Party President Sheikh Hasina cannot unilaterally decide to hold a council," she added.

Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan continued his views exchange meetings with former BNP lawmakers and its district level leaders to secure support for his proposal for bringing changes to the party constitution.

They are also planning to bring a few changes to the proposal itself, which might include some new provisions regarding making someone the party secretary general.

Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan on June 25 announced the current reform proposal where a number of new provisions were proposed regarding who could become the party chairperson and who could not, but it did not say anything new about the post of the party secretary general, giving rise to criticisms.

"More proposals will come but the party council will take the final decision, before which indoor politics should be allowed," MK Anwar told reporters after a meeting with Bhuiyan in the latter's Gulshan residence.

BNP leaders who met Bhuiyan and expressed their desire to get on the reform bandwagon included former ministers and lawmakers Maj Gen (retd) Mahmudul Hasan, Ehsanul Haque Milon, Abul Hossain Khan, Syed Makbul Hossain, Mujibur Rahman Manju, Shah Abu Zafar, SA Sultan Titu, Eng Shahiduzzaman, Anwarul Azim, Nazir Hossain, and party leaders ZA Khan, Brig Gen (retd) Anwar Hossain Chowdhury, Lokman Hossain, Kamrul Monir, and Mofazzal Hossain.

BNP reformists said the secretary general will continue his discussions with those party leaders who will play vital roles in the reform process as councillors at the council which might be held amid the state of emergency if the government allows it.

According to the BNP reformists they will seek permission from the government to hold the council after the conclusion of Mannan Bhuiyan's views exchange meetings within a couple of days.