The decision was taken at a meeting of the Oikya Front leaders held at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office on Wednesday night, said BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, he said, “Jatiya Oikya Front leaders will brief diplomats at Lakeshore Hotel at 3pm. We’ve also decided to exchange views with civil society members later. But the schedule of the programme is yet to be finalised.”
Besides, the BNP leader said, the Oikya Front leaders decided to hold public rallies in Chattogram on October 27 and in Rajshahi on October 30 after their maiden rally in Sylhet on October 23.
Mosharraf said they will offer fateha at the shrines of Hazrat Shahjalal (R) and Shah Paran (R) in Sylhet on October 23, and then hold a public rally in the city.
He said their local leaders are in discussions with the local administration over holding the rally in Sylhet.
The BNP leader said they have decided to form a liaison committee of the Oikya Front, and the names of its members will be announced within a day or two.
The meeting that began around 9pm continued for over an hour. It was the first meeting of the Oikya Front leaders at any office of BNP since its formation.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Oikya Front leaders at a meeting at JSD president ASM Abdur Rob’s Uttara residence decided to hold a rally in Sylhet on October 23.
Apart from Mosharraf, BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed, JSD vice president Tania Rob, general secretary Abdul Malek Ratan, Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Gano Forum executive president Subrata Chowdhury, general secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu, Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, former adviser to the army-backed caretaker government Barrister Mainul Husein and former vice president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed were present at the meeting.
On October 13, BNP together with Dr Kama-led Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, JSD and Nagorik Oikya launched the Jatiy Oikya Front to press for their seven-point demand, including holding the next polls under a non-party administration.