Rejecting comments made by Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah, an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, pro-reforms BNP leader Maj Gen (retd) ZA Khan yesterday said they contacted at least 75 percent councillors of the party and 60 to 70 percent of them supported the reforms proposal.

"He [Hannan Shah] does not know the real situation as he was in jail," ZA Khan told reporters after a meeting with BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan at his Gulshan home yesterday.

"We know the situation as we have been working on it for two months. I can say that at least 60-70 percent grassroots-level leaders supported the proposal as they want to implement reforms," he added. On July 25, Shah Abul Hossain, a former BNP state minister, claimed that two-thirds of the party councillors already expressed their support for the "reformists".

Hannan Shah on Saturday told reporters that not even five percent of the party councillors would support the so-called reformists led by Bhuiyan. He said there was no alternative to Khaleda Zia in the party.

He said those, who are now in favour of the secretary general instead of the party chairperson, should not call themselves advisers to the BNP chairperson.

ZA Khan said he is not an adviser to a person, but to the party. "We [members of the advisory council] are advisers to BNP, not to any person," he told reporters regarding Hannan Shah's comment.

According to party sources, dissident BNP leaders led by Bhuiyan, who are working for a party council to bring changes to the party's constitution, already sent booklets of reforms proposal to councillors.

Earlier, Bhuiyan told reporters that the reforms proposal would have a provision that a person would not be able to occupy the post of party chairperson or the secretary general for more than two three-year terms.

However, the booklet did not include this provision for the party secretary general. Bhuiyan had said the provision would apply for the party chairperson and the party secretary general.

The BNP secretary general sent messages to the district, upazila and union-level leaders and urged them to support his reforms proposal and make the party more democratic, sources said.

According to a source, dissident leaders already collected signature of many field-level leaders, as they are planning to call for a requisition meeting if the chairperson does not give her consent to the council.