Responding to a call of the government, they also decided to launch their own relief operations among the flood victims at district and upazila levels without using the party banner.

The dissident leaders, who claim to be working to bring reforms to the party as well as to the political culture of the country, in an emergency meeting held in Bhuiyan's Gulshan residence in the capital, took the decision yesterday.

According to the decision, central leaders and former lawmakers of the party will coordinate the relief operation in their respective constituencies. The central leaders will also visit the flood affected areas to distribute relief materials among the victims.

Many dissident BNP leaders and its former lawmakers also expressed their resentments at party Chairperson Khaleda Zia's recent comment accusing the secretary general of hatching conspiracies to split the party, meeting sources said.

"Now the flood is our top priority and we want to stand beside the victims, making it necessary to hold the party council only after the flood situation is over," Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, a member of the BNP standing committee, told reporters after the meeting.

"The country is facing a natural disaster as a half of the country is now under water, we want to help the distressed humanity at the moment with assistance from our local leaders," he said.

He also said they do not want to use the flood situation for politicking, and that is why using the party banner to help the people in tackling the situation is not necessary.

Enam Ahmed Chowdhury, an adviser to the party chairperson, echoed the sentiment, saying that they want to help the people not as BNP persons but as concerned citizens.

Replying to a question, he said they want to prepare the party for the next election, for which the party needs to be accepted by the people to lead the country.

"We want to make the party acceptable and ready for the election," he said rejecting the allegation of Khaleda Zia that a few leaders led by Bhuiyan are hatching conspiracies to break up the party in the name of reforms.

"How can we go to the election if there is no democratic practice in the party?" he questioned.

When asked whether they will postpone their reform activities due to the flood situation, he said, "There is no question of postponing the reform activities as it is a continuous process."

Maj Gen (retd) ZA Khan, Mofazzal Karim, Rezaul Karim, Asadul Habib Dulu, Abdul Alim, Justice Mozammel Haque, Rustom Ali Forazi, Sardar Shakhawat Hossain Bakul, Shah Abul Hossain, Nazir Hossain, Shahiduzzaman, Mosharraf Hossain Mangu, Ziaul Haque Mollah, Masud Arun, Gazi Shahjahan, Shamsul Alam Pramanik, and Tasnim Rana attended the meeting among others.

Earlier, the dissident leaders hoped that they would be able to hold the party council by August even amid the state of emergency as they had completed their round of contacting most of the party councillors across the country.

Meanwhile, party Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Monday, talking to reporters while attending the 23rd death anniversary of former naval chief Mahbub Ali Khan, also asked her party leaders and activists to stand beside the flood victims.