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Dhaka BNP leaders feel grassroots' wrath

February 05, 2018 00:00:00


BNP grassroots leaders at the party's National Executive Committee meeting lambasted the leadership in Dhaka for lacklustre movements on the street, reports bdnews24.com.

As the leaders from outside the capital urged Khaleda to take measures to ensure movement in Dhaka, the BNP chief said, "betrayals will not be forgiven anymore."

Khaleda sat with over 450 members of the committee at Dhaka's Le Meridien hotel on Saturday ahead of the upcoming verdict of a graft case against her.

Speaking at the opening session of the meeting, Khaleda reiterated the party's demand for a neutral poll-time government and asked the leaders to be ready for 'peaceful programmes.'

Later, the BNP chief held a closed-door meeting with the Executive Committee members.

Forty-two members of the committee spoke at the meeting, according to many of those who attended the meeting.

BNP leaders observe a one-minute silence to pay respect to political leaders and activists, poets, writers, artists and academics who passed away since the last National Executive Committee meeting at Dhaka's Le Meridien hotel on Saturday.

The grassroots leaders alleged the Dhaka BNP leaders did not hit the streets during the party's movements - in 2014 to stop the parliamentary elections and the following year to topple the government.

Loud applauds filled the meeting venue when the grassroots leaders were raising the allegations.

One of them, from Noakhali, said leaders in Dhaka 'become silent' after announcing programmes while those outside the capital have "the ability to shut down everything on Khaleda's orders".

The party's Relief and Rehabilitation Affairs Secretary Haji Yasin Ali from Comilla told the news agency after the meeting: "We don't want to know what will happen in Dhaka; We don't want to wait for directives from Dhaka."

He said he proposed that the former MPs and nomination seekers should stage a sit-in with a large number of their supporters in their areas if Khaleda is convicted 'wrongly' on February 8.

Joint Secretary General Mojibur Rahman Sarwar from Barisal urged the top-brass to ensure movement of the leaders in Dhaka, and announce and get ready for "tough programmes as they cannot sit idle in case of Khaleda's conviction".

Another leader from Kishoreganj said they had "nothing to be frustrated with Khaleda's trial, but should launch a movement centring the issue".

BNP Children's Affairs Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Siddique from Tangail told reporters after the meeting: "The government knows what is in the Feb 8 verdict. We will be there on the streets with the people.


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