Former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, in detention on corruption charges, has been dealt an embarrassing blow by her Bangladesh Nationalist Party which dumped her chosen leaders at a late- night meeting. The move was seen as an apparent attempt by party reformists to distance themselves from Khaleda ahead of elections late next year.
The BNPÂ’s highest decision making body met at former finance minister Saifur RahmanÂ’s Dhaka home late on Monday, and appointed him the partyÂ’s acting chairperson to replace KhaledaÂ’s chosen stand-in, Khandaker Delwar Hossain.
The party also appointed another former minister Hafizuddin Ahmed, a known reformist in the BNP, as its secretary-general. It called back a former secretary-general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, who led a failed bid to curtail Khaleda’s power, into the party’s mainstream. Delwar, in hospital since Monday, told reporters the meeting chaired by Saifur was “illegal and hence its decisions are unacceptable to all but a few dissidents”. Saifur, 79, hit back, saying that he acted “in the best interest of the party, to save it at a crucial time.”
“There was no alternative ... I was compelled by the situation (to take over the leadership),” he said. “It’s a midnight melodrama in the BNP,” said popular Bangla-language daily Jugantar. Another leading daily Janakantha called it a “Midnight Coup in the BNP”.
Monday night’s five-hour meeting was attended by party reformists, including Mannan Bhuiyan and his followers, but Khaleda’s chosen people were absent. “It looks like the reformists, who want Khaleda sidelined and her absolute power reduced, are taking control,” said one BNP supporter.