'Govt officials meet Khaleda'
Several public officials, serving as officers on special duty (OSD) for years, held a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office last night in violation of Government Servants' (Conduct) Rules.
Party insiders said around 20 officials and employees of different ranks -- from deputy secretary to MLSS -- entered Khaleda's office in groups between 7:30pm and 9:00pm.
Maruf Kamal Khan, BNP chief's press secretary, told this correspondent around 11:30pm that the meeting was not pre-scheduled. It was attended by over 100 present and former government officials and employees, he said.
“They discussed their professional matters with the BNP chairperson,” Maruf added.
But he declined to name any of the serving officials present at the meeting, saying he did not know any of them.
As the news spread, electronic and print media reporters started gathering at the Gulshan office. The officials were not seen coming out as of 12:55am.
However, talking to reporters around 11:50pm, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir refuted reports of any such meeting.
“Don't you know there are many former government officials, including 20 ex-secretaries, in the BNP? It's usual that they would have meetings with the party chief. But no serving government officials were present at tonight's [last night's] meeting. It's totally false, fabricated and provocative,” he said.
The BNP spokesperson also issued a statement denying media reports of any closed-door meeting between Khaleda and government officials.
Talking to The Daily Star, Ali Imam Mazumder, a former cabinet secretary, said it would be a violation of service rules if government officials hold meeting with political leaders.
About 250 civil servants have been made OSD, mostly on political grounds, since the Awami League assumed office in 2009.
An OSD has no other duty, except attending office and signing the attendance book. He or she gets salary and other benefits, excluding transport facilities.
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