BNP gets venue for council

The BNP has announced that it would hold its 6th national council scheduled for March 19 at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB).

“The authorities of the engineers' institute gave us a written permission last night,” said Rizvi Ahmed, joint secretary general of the party, at a press briefing at its Nayapaltan head office yesterday.

He also said they had approached the Public Works Department (PWD) to use Suhrawardy Udyan for the council but changed their mind later.

"We won't go to Suhrawardy Udyan. Now, we will start our preparations for holding the council at the engineers' institute.”

Asked, the BNP leader told The Daily Star that police permission was not required for the council since it would be an indoor programme.

He, however, said they would inform the law enforcement agency about it. “If we are told to take police permission, we will talk to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police [DMP].”

Contacted, police said the BNP would have to take their permission for using loud speakers in any rally as well as for any gathering at the IEB.

“It's a matter of public security,” said Shibli Noman, assistant commissioner of the DMP (Ramna zone).

The BNP had considered holding the triennial national council in Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), IEB, Suhrawardy Udyan, and Bashundhara Convention Center in Dhaka.

The party held its previous council at BICC in 2009.

When the party approached the PWD for Suhrawardy Udyan, the department asked it to take police permission first.

Later, the BNP selected the IEB as the council venue as the party high-ups preferred to organise the programme in an auditorium, said the party insiders.

Meanwhile, several BNP leaders, including chiefs of the sub committees of the councils, told The Daily Star that they were happy that they had got a venue at last.

They, however, said they would not be able to bring in supporters as much as they would like to have had due to space constraint at the IEB.