BNP on Friday paid its last respects to the party's vice-chairman and first mayor of Gazipur city MA Mannan, by placing wreaths on his coffin. Mannan’s coffin was taken to BNP's Nayapaltan central office around 10.30am and kept on a stage, enabling party leaders and activists to have a last glimpse of their leader, who passed away on Thursday. BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, along with party senior leaders, on behalf of the party, placed wreaths on the former Gazipur mayor’s coffin and draped it with a party flag as a mark of respect. Later, leaders of BNP’s different associate bodies also placed wreaths on Mannan’s coffin. In a brief address prior to a Janaza there, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir recalled the contributions of Mannan to BNP and the country. "The vacuum that created following the death of Mannan will not easily be filled." READ: BNP conspiring to assassinate Hasina: Quader Fakhrul prayed for the salvation of the departed soul of the BNP leader and conveyed sympathy to the bereaved family. Later, his second namaz-e-janaza was held there, participated by leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies. Mannan died at United Hospital in the capital on Thursday afternoon. His first janaza was held on Baridhara DOHS Mosque premises after Esa prayers. He will be laid to rest at his family graveyard in Gazipur’s Salna village after Asr prayers. Manna was elected mayor in the first Gazipur City Corporation polls in July 2013. Joining BNP in 1978, Mannan was elected MP from Gazipur -1 constituency in 1991. He was inducted in Khaleda Zia’s cabinet in 1991 as a state minister for religious affairs and science and technology.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said he will talk to his “old and solid friend” Planning Minister MA Mannan to discuss how he came to support the idea of a railway connecting Chatak with Sunamganj and Mohanganj. Momen said he wrote a letter to the Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Suajn “with an open mind” after five lawmakers from Sunamganj requested him to back their proposal. “They (MPs) requested me. I wrote the letter with an open mind as I want connectivity. I should have talked to him (Mannan). Now I will have to look at it. I have no conflict with him. I shall speak to him. I feel sorry about it,” Momen told reporters at his foreign ministry office.  Also read: Formal announcement over vaccine coproduction soon: FM He said he was surprised at the discussion on social media over his letter to the Railways Minister. He said he had no information about “internal politics” of Sunamganj, but he just favoured connectivity only.    "It appeared logical to me what the five lawmakers mentioned," Momen wrote in his letter to the Railways Minister. Both the Foreign Minister and the Planning Minister took to Facebook to share their opposing views on the issue. The Foreign Minister mentioned that the current government began its work to establish uninterrupted railway networks in each district of the country. Such initiatives added a new dimension to the country's communication system, he said. "I believe it will enrich the overall communication system of the country if Chatak, Sunamganj and Mohanganj are brought under the railway network,"  Momen mentioned in his letter. Also read: HR promoting countries have a double-standard approach: FM In 2011, the then Railways Minister Suranjit Sengupta announced plan to establish a railway network in Chatak, Sunamganj and Mohanganj. Later, railway officials visited the sites several times.