The BNP's pro-Khaleda faction has shelved other issues for her release but reformists want to bring in unity in the party in the run-up to general elections that the Election Commission says will be held by December next year.Highly placed BNP sources said Khaleda Zia's release will top other considerations for her followers in the coming days while the Saifur Rahman-led group is putting emphasis on party unity in a bid to participate in the next elections.
Pro-Saifur leaders will continue their effort to convince the old guard of the need for unity but Khandaker Delwar Hossain-led leaders said the party is already united under Khaleda's leadership and any decision on strengthening the cohesion must come from her. "They (pro-Saifur leaders) must have to return to the party fold without any condition," said a pro-Khaleda stalwart.
Both the factions, however, hoped that the caretaker government will lift the emergency as soon as possible and as per the Election Commission's roadmap, hold a free, fair and meaningful election by the end of the coming year.
Khaleda's followers claim that her release is a must for a meaningful election. But Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, standing committee member of the pro-Saifur faction, told reporters that he saw nothing that may justify standing up against the government right now.