BNP leaders want to wage movement
In the three-day series of meetings, almost all the BNP leaders suggested the party's top brass not to participate in any elections under the incumbent government.
They supported waging movement to compel the government to hold the elections under a non-partisan interim administration.
During the meeting between September 14 and 16, the vice chairmen, advisers to the party chairperson, joint secretary generals, organising secretaries and other top leaders of the front and associate bodies were present.
A total of 249 leaders participated in the series of meetings where 112 spoke and the discussion went on for over 16 hours.
Seeking anonymity, a member of the standing committee said that all the leaders said there was no alternative to waging a movement before joining the election fray.
The party sources said the meetings were discussed again in a standing committee meeting last night and the committee found that almost all the leaders opined for not taking part in any elections under the incumbent government.
The party is likely to hold meetings with its executive committee members and district committee leaders between September 21 and 23.
In those meetings, the top brass would try to know what the grassroots activists think the party's strategy should be ahead of the next parliamentary polls, said another standing committee member.
BNP General Secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will hold a press conference at the Gulshan office where he will disclose the standing committee meeting decision.
Sources said the party's acting chairman Tarique Rahman prepared 10-12 talking points to get the views of the party's top leaders and grassroots leaders.
Based on the suggestions and opinions, the party will devise its next course of action, said party leaders.
Meanwhile, a source said Fakhrul met party Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her residence last night. But it was not independently verified neither the content of the discussion nor the meeting was.
The series of meetings is the first meeting of this scale since BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia landed in jail on February 8, 2018.
It has also been the biggest meeting since Tarique Rahman became the acting chairman of the party.
Khaleda is currently out of jail after the government suspended her sentence. Tarique, who is facing several cases at home, is in London.
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