The BNP Standing Committee has authorised the party chairman and prime minister, Tarique Rahman, to select the party’s nominee for the presidency, after discussing several potential candidates at a meeting on Saturday night.
The decision came at a meeting of the BNP National Standing Committee chaired by Tarique Rahman at the party chairman’s office in Gulshan, Dhaka. The meeting began at 8:00 pm and continued till 9:30pm.
Earlier in the day, TIMES of Bangladesh published a narrative fiction predicting that Tarique will pick the presidential nominee, which came true.
Emerging from the meeting, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told waiting reporters: “The Standing Committee has authorised BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman to select the party’s nominee for the presidency.”
He said the committee had also discussed ongoing development activities, local government elections, the presidential election and the party’s organisational affairs.
Standing Committee member and Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters that the party had entrusted the responsibility for selecting the presidential nominee to its chairman and Prime Minister, Tarique Rahman.
Party sources said the BNP plans to complete the election of a new president within August. The nomination of the party’s candidate was therefore discussed with particular importance at the meeting.
Although several potential names were discussed informally, no candidate was finalised. The standing committee instead entrusted Tarique Rahman with the authority to choose the nominee for the important and sensitive constitutional office at an appropriate time.
Senior BNP leaders declined to comment publicly on the possible candidates.
Those attending the meeting included Standing Committee members Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Nazrul Islam Khan, Salahuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, Selima Rahman, AZM Zahid Hossain and BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Standing Committee members Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan and Mirza Abbas, who were abroad, joined the meeting virtually, according to sources.
The meeting also reviewed the country’s recent political situation, including opposition programmes marking the anniversary of the July mass uprising, clashes between BNP and National Citizen Party activists in different areas, and the overall law-and-order situation.
The committee also stressed the need to strengthen party unity and organisational capacity, improve coordination among leaders and activists, and further consolidate the organisation at the grassroots level.
Sources said the meeting also discussed directives for successfully implementing upcoming political programmes, the government’s ongoing activities and the BNP’s political strategy for the days ahead.
