Trashing media reports on an observation by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on the formation of Jatiya Oikya Front, led by Dr Kamal Hossain, ahead of the 11th preliminary polls, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said there is no room for confusion about national unity.
"In the evening on the Eid day, we, the members of the standing committee, went to meet madam [Khaleda Zia] at her Gulshan residence. Now, some of the media are creating confusion in the public mind by spreading false, fabricated and baseless reports on that meeting," he said.
Speaking to reporters on the matter, Fakhrul said: "I want to make it clear there's no scope for any confusion about national unity. Such propaganda and misleading news has been published only to create confusion about national unity."
He said their party thinks a vested quarter is conspiring to tarnish the image of Khaleda Zia and BNP by providing wrong information to people.
BNP standing committee members met Khaleda on Saturday night and exchanged greetings with her on Eid-ul-Azha.
Some newspapers, quoting anonymous BNP standing committee members, reported that Khaleda Zia told them at the meeting that BNP made a mistake by forming Jatiya Oikya Front under the leadership of Dr Kamal Hossain, who has personal enmity with Prime Minister Sheikh Husain but holds the same ideology and always talks about his leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Protesting the reports, Fakhrul said they only exchanged greetings with their ailing chairperson Khaleda Zia. "We just shared our joys and sorrows."
He also said Khaleda Zia only patiently heard them and did not make any comment in support or against what they said.
The BNP secretary general hoped that the media would provide authentic information and publish objective reports.
On March 25, Khaleda Zia was released from jail for six months upon an executive order considering her age and humanitarian grounds.
The government passed the executive order for her release on two conditions – that she receive treatment at her Gulshan residence and not leaving the country. She has been staying at her Gulshan residence since she was freed.
Khaleda Zia was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail after she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by a special court in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018.