BNP to finalise agitation programme next week

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is going to separately sit with her party's policymakers and the chiefs of 20-party alliance next week to finalise the next course of action to force the government hold a fresh election under non-party administration.

 Both the meetings were set to take place at Khaleda's political office in Gulshan on Sunday and Monday at 8:00pm, Maruf Kamal Khan, press secretary of the BNP chief, told The Daily Star yesterday.

The last meeting of BNP's national standing committee was held on May 10.

Sunday's standing committee meeting is deemed to be significant from different aspects, especially on preparing next course of action about fresh anti-government movement likely to start from mid-August.

Khaleda issued threats at different Iftar parties during Ramadan that the opposition would wage a vigorous movement after the Eid-ul-Fitr.

During her meeting with the chiefs of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, a roadmap of their movement might be finalised, insiders say.

Earlier on July 18, Khaleda approved a 56-member convening committee of BNP's Dhaka city unit led by Mirza Abbas and Habib-un-Nabi Sohel aimed at strengthening the party's crucial chapter for waging a tougher movement in the capital.

Many in the party believe last year's movement of the opposition to stop the January 5 election failed due to BNP's failure to wage movement in the capital. 

Khaleda during her Saudi Arabia visit last month discussed this issue with her elder son and her party's second-in-command Tarique Rahman, who also flew to that country at the same time from the UK, where he has been living since 2008.

During their one-week stay in Saudi Arabia, Khaleda and Tarique worked out the 20-party alliance's possible programmes and strategies to force the government to concede to their demand for a fresh election, the insiders add.

Khaleda is likely to elaborately discuss the movement plan with her party's policymakers and the alliance leaders to finalise it.