BNP policymakers now have decided to sit with the leaders of different professional bodies holding six closed-door meetings with the party’s central and grassroots leaders. The meeting will be held on October 8 at party chairperson’s Gulshan office to work out its next course of action ahead of the 12th parliamentary election. A meeting of BNP standing committee held on Saturday took the decision, said a press release, signed by party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, on Sunday. Fakhrul also presented a brief report on the outcomes of the party’s six meetings with the party rank and file held in the last two weeks. Read: BNP policymakers in another closed-door meeting As per the decision of the meeting, BNP will also arrange a discussion meeting on the importance of holding the national elections under a non-party neutral government on October 1 at the Jatiya Press Club. Earlier, the party had six closed-door meetings in two phases with BNP vice-chairmen, advisory council members on with joint secretaries general, organising secretaries, assistant organising secretaries, secretaries, executive committee members, leaders of the party’s different associate bodies and presidents of different district units. Read: BNP plans series of party central leaders’ meetings The meetings were held as part of the party’s planned series of meetings with BNP rank and file to know their views about the party’s next course of action ahead of the next general election. BNP formed a 502-member national executive committee through its sixth national council on March 19, 2016.

A group of BNP grassroots leaders on Thursday urged the party policymakers to prepare the party’s all units in Dhaka for waging a movement for forcing the government to quit and hold the 12th parliamentary polls under a neutral administration. In a closed-door meeting, they also said BNP will not get benefits by forming an electoral alliance with the ‘one-man-show’ parties. The BNP grassroots leaders, however, said the party should make efforts to bring all the opposition parties under a single platform to launch a simultaneous movement, led by BNP, with a demand for the restoration of an election-time neutral government, a party leader, who was present at the meeting, told UNB. He said most of the leaders also urged the party high-command to take a tough stance on not joining any election under the current government and intensify diplomatic efforts to get the international community’s support in favour of their demand for a polls-time neutral government. BNP top leaders sat with its executive committee members under Khulna, Rajshahi and Barishal divisions today (Thursday), wrapping up their planned six series of meetings with the central and grassroots leaders. Read: BNP policymakers in another closed-door meeting Party sources said 86 leaders participated in the meeting and 65 of them gave their opinions about how BNP should get ready for an anti-government movement and the next general election. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Selima Rahman and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku were present at the meeting. Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman virtually joined it from London. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mirza Fakhrul said in their six meetings in two phases around 300 central and grassroots leaders talked about their organisational issues and how to ‘restore’ democracy in the country free Khaleda Zia from jail, and get rid of the current ‘authoritarian’ government. He said they took note of the speeches of all the leaders and those will be discussed in the meeting of their standing committee to work out the next course of action. “We’ll let you know later about what programmes are taken in our meeting." As part of their second round of series meetings, the BNP top leaders sat with the party’s executive committee members under Dhaka and Faridpur organisational divisions on Tuesday and with the leaders under Chattogram, Cumilla, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Rangpur divisions on Wednesday. Read: BNP plans series of party central leaders’ meetings Earlier, the BNP policymakers had three closed-door meetings with party vice-chairmen, advisory council members, joint secretaries general, organising secretaries, assistant organising secretaries and secretaries and the top leaders of the party’s different associate bodies last week. A total of 491 party leaders joined the six meetings. The meetings were held as part of the party’s planned series of meetings with BNP rank and file to know their views about the party’s next course of action ahead of the next general election. BNP formed a 502-member national executive committee through its sixth national council on March 19, 2016. BNP held its last executive committee meeting at Le Meridian Hotel on February 3, 2018, just four days before Khaleda was sent to jail in a graft case.

A group of BNP grassroots leaders on Wednesday urged the party policymakers to devise a well-thought-out plan and time-befitting strategy to outsmart the government through an effective movement for a credible national election. In a closed-door meeting, they also said it will not be possible to succeed by waging a movement in the same style of the 90s and 2013 as they fear the government will come up with a new strategy to win the 12th parliamentary election with the help of administration. A party leader, who was present at the meeting, also said most of the grassroots leaders opined that the party's all units and associate bodies should be overhauled by incorporating dedicated and active leaders. He said they called upon the party high-command not to join any election under the current government and take effective steps to bring the opposition political parties under a single platform to realise their demand for the restoration of election-time neutral government. Read: BNP policymakers in another closed-door meeting As part of their second phase of series meetings with the grassroots leaders, BNP top leaders sat with its executive committee members under Chattogram, Cumilla, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Rangpur divisions on the second day today (Wednesday). Party sources said 85 leaders participated in the meeting and 63 of them gave their opinions about how BNP should get ready for an anti-government movement and the next general election. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir along with standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Selima Rahman and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku was present at the meeting. Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman virtually joined it from London. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mirza Fakhrul said they had nearly a six-hour-long meeting where party leaders talked about how to get rid of the current ‘despotic’ rule and establish people’s rights. He said they discussed the issues relating to national politics, the country’s current situation and BNP’s organisational matters. BNP policymakers will also hold the third meeting with members of the executive committee under Khulna, Rajshahi and Barishal divisions on Thursday. Read: BNP plans series of party central leaders’ meetings On Tuesday, the BNP top leaders had a meeting with party’s executive committee members under Dhaka and Faridpur organisational divisions. Earlier, the BNP policymakers had three closed-door meetings with party vice-chairmen, advisory council members, joint secretaries general, organising secretaries, assistant organising secretaries and secretaries and top leaders of the party’s different associate bodies last week. The meetings were held as part of the party’s planned series of meetings with BNP rank and file to know their views about the party’s next course of action ahead of the next general election. BNP formed a 502-member national executive committee through its sixth national council on March 19, 2016.

BNP grassroots leaders on Tuesday urged the party policymakers to give focus on bringing the opposition political parties under a single platform to wage a strong movement for the restoration of election-time government. In a closed-door meeting, they also opined that the party high-command should intensify its diplomatic and political efforts to mount pressure on the government to take steps for holding a credible national election and forming a neutral Election Commission. A party leader, who was present at the meeting, also said most of the grassroots leaders highlighted the importance of promptly overhauling the party for getting success in the anti-government movement. As part of their second phase of series meetings with the grassroots leaders, BNP top leaders first sat with its executive committee members under Dhaka and Faridpur organisational divisions at the party chairperson's Gulshan office. Read: BNP policymakers in another closed-door meeting Party sources said 75 leaders participated in the meeting and gave their opinions about how BNP should get ready for an anti-government movement and the next general election. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir along with standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Nazrul Islam Khan and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku was present at the meeting. Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman virtually joined it from London. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Mirza Fakhrul said their meeting discussed the current political situation in the country and the organisational issues of BNP. BNP policymakers will also hold another meeting with members of the executive committee in Chattogram, Cumilla, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Rangpur divisions on Wednesday. Read: BNP plans series of party central leaders’ meetings Earlier, the BNP policymakers had three closed-door meetings with party vice-chairmen, advisory council members, joint secretaries general, organising secretaries, assistant organising secretaries and secretaries and top leaders of the party’s different associate bodies last week. The meetings were held as part of the party’s planned series of meetings with BNP rank and file to know their views about the party’s next course of action ahead of the next general election. BNP formed a 502-member national executive committee through its sixth national council on March 19, 2016.

BNP policymakers have now decided to sit with their grassroots leaders after holding three closed-door meetings with central leaders to work out the party’s next course of action ahead of the 12th parliamentary election. The decision was taken at the party’s standing committee meeting held on Saturday, said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Speaking at a press conference at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office, he said the series of meetings with the grassroots leaders will begin on Tuesday next and continue for three consecutive days. “We exchanged views with the members of our party’s national executive committee on September 14th, 15th and 16th. Our standing committee meeting yesterday (Saturday) decided to hold meetings with the remaining executive committee members on September 21, 22 and 23,” Fakhrul said. Read: BNP policymakers in another closed-door meeting He said the presidents of their party’s all district committees will be present in the meetings as they are the national executive committee members as ex-officio. Earlier, the BNP policymakers had closed-door meetings with party vice-chairmen, advisory council members on Tuesday, with joint secretaries general, organising secretaries, assistant organising secretaries and secretaries on Wednesday and with the top leaders of the party’s different associate bodies on Thursday last. The meetings were held as part of the party’s planned series of meetings with BNP rank and file to know their views about the party’s next course of action ahead of the next general election. BNP formed a 502-member national executive committee through its sixth national council on March 19, 2016. Fakhrul said they will inform the media about the outcomes of the meetings once those are concluded. “We’ll also let you know our next course of action and strategy.” Read: BNP plans series of party central leaders’ meetings In the three closed-door meetings, he said BNP senior and mid-level leaders discussed the current political situation in the country and the party's organisational issues. “They also talked about a wide range of issues, including the government’s efforts to establish a one-party rule, repression on the opposition leaders and activists, false and fictitious cases and Khaleda Zia’s release.” The BNP leader said their party’s organisational activities have been going on in full swing. “Most of our committees have started the overhauling process. The work on reorganising our associate bodies has also long been going on… we couldn’t hold the councils in different areas due to the Corona epidemic.”He said they have a plan to hold councils in some districts within a short time.