They also said they now cannot contact party Chairperson Khaleda Zia unlike in the past due to some reasons but they (BNP) are still united.

"All kinds of misunderstanding will disappear once open politics is allowed," Joint Secretary General of the party Ashraf Hossain said yesterday.

Ashraf, a close aide to party Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, was talking to reporters after a meeting with Bhuiyan at his Gulshan residence.

He however did not reply when asked about the reasons for which they now cannot contact the party chief.

According to sources, pro-reform leader ZA Khan's comments on the party chairperson's allegations against them have created mixed reaction among the reformist leaders. Some of them think that ZA Khan, also an adviser to the chairperson, should not have made such arrogant remarks.

Earlier, the BNP chairperson, during a teleconference with leaders of Australia chapter of BNP, strongly criticised pro-reforms leaders saying those conspiring to break the party are betrayers.

In response to this, ZA Khan, on Monday told reporters, 'It is like a drowning person clutching at straws'.

Sources said a group of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leaders yesterday met Mannan Bhuiyan and told him that such arrogant comments about the party chief is creating misunderstandings among field level party leaders and workers.

Bhuiyan also talked with party leaders working with him to implement reforms and urged them not to make any comment attacking anyone personally.

Later, Ashraf Hossain told reporters that they don't want to make personal attacks on anyone, and they will not do anything beyond the party constitution.

"We are working for a representative party council with the consent of all to make the party stronger but some people in the party misunderstood us," he said. Councillors will decide which would be better for the country as well as the party, he added.

Meanwhile, Dhaka city unit BNP General Secretary Abdus Salam also met Bhuiyan at his residence.