BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia censured some runaway leaders for their passive role in the anti-government agitation that aimed to resist the January 5 polls.
She warned them that they would face the consequences for failing to remain active on the streets during the agitation.
Khaleda Zia is going to her Gulshan office every day but many leaders who have been holed up for quite a long time to avert arrest have yet to meet her, fearing harsh criticism.
A senior leader said Khaleda Zia whined about the role of those leaders, saying that they have to shoulder the responsibility for failure to build up resistance in the capital.
She said she did not ask all the leaders to go into hiding and that she was displeased with those who did so without her instruction.
A joint secretary general, who was an MP from the Chittagong division, phoned Khaleda but was told off.
A few days ago, a standing committee member who came into limelight as the BNP’s youth front leader also had to face the same fate when he phoned her, said party insiders.
The joint secretary general said it was the responsibility of the city BNP to wage a movement in the capital and that is why it was the failure of the city BNP.
He also alleged that the Dhaka city unit BNP Convener Sadeque Hossain Khoka convinced Khaleda to split the capital into eight zones and requested her to assign eight senior leaders to wage movement in their respective areas.
“It was his (Khoka) trick to put the responsibility on other leaders,” he said.
Party insiders said a joint secretary general made a phone call to Khaleda Zia a few days ago but she had called him worthless.
In reply the leader said: “We were not the leaders of the capital and even we were not assigned to coordinate the movement in the capital.”
He also blamed the city unit leaders for not cooperating with them during shutdowns and blockades.
The BNP-led 18-party has been spearheading street movements since October 27 and more or less all the senior leaders, especially the Dhaka city unit leaders, have remained holed up fearing arrest since then.
The blockade apparently isolated the capital from the rest of the country but no strong campaign was visible in Dhaka as none of the senior leaders were seen anywhere during the movement.