To bolster their demand for holding the next general election under the supervision of a non-party caretaker, the main opposition BNP has formed 75 organising teams to build public opinion against the government across the country, and bring other political and professional bodies into the fold.
The teams have also been formed to resolve intra-party feuds across BNP’s 75 organising districts and to gear up nationwide agitation campaign after the month of Ramadan, according to party sources. Having a landslide victory in the four city corporation elections, the opposition alliance is now set to rethink its strategy to force the government to accept the non-party caretaker government (CG) system for the next parliamentary polls, the sources said.
As part of the plan, BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain has been made team leader for Sylhet division, Mahbubur Rahman for Dinajpur, Nazrul Islam Khan for Rajshahi, KM Anwar for Chittagong, Mirza Abbas for Barisal, and joint secretary general Mizanur Rahman Minu has been made team leader for Khulna division.
The party’s vice-chairman Abdullah Al Noman has been appointed team leader for the Dhaka division, while acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir would lead the Dhaka city unit of the party.
The team leaders have been asked to resolve all sorts of local intra-party feuds and submit their reports to the party chief Khaleda Zia, the sources said.
The leaders would hold talks with local leaders of several political parties, including Islamic organisations and professional bodies, to garner support for the upcoming anti-government movement on the CG issue.In addition, there might be some large rallies in different parts of the country.
BNP chairperson and its senior leaders would address those rallies to create anti-government sentiment in peoples’ minds for its repressive acts and failure to run the country properly, the sources said.
Talking to The Independent, BNP standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman said that senior BNP leaders were engaged in carrying out a mass-contact campaign across the party’s 75 organising districts with the CG issue as the focal point.After the campaign, the leaders would submit their organisational reports to the party chief Khaleda Zia.
The final course of action on the CG restoration demand would be devised in the party forum meeting, he added.“We will hold talks with different classes of people during the organisational tour.
Street and wayside rallies, public meetings, small and large group talks with local people will be held to garner public support in favour of holding the next general election under a non-party CG system,” he said.
Responding to a question, he said, “We will wage a tough movement after Ramadan on our one-point CG restoration demand, which will be the culmination of the nationwide mass-contact campaign.”
Thanks to the victory of the party-backed mayoral candidates in the recent elections in
the four city corporations, BNP had got back its organisational strength and this would inspire the nationalist forces to intensify the anti-government movement,
he said.“
The government will do a great mistake if our CG restoration demand is not met after the month of fasting as the country is prepared to launch a dauntless movement,” he added.
Jatiyata Ganatantrik Patry (JAGPA) chairman Shafiul Alam Prodhan, a political ally of the BNP-led 18-party alliance, told The Independent, “We will remain on the streets physically, mentally and with our hearts, to fight, beat and uproot the bad elements and undemocratic forces from state power.”
-With The Independent input
