The BNP has finally got a move on with the long overdue reshuffling of its Dhaka city unit to intensify movement in the days ahead, leaving out the incumbent convener Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
Sources said former minister Mirza Abbas and former FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintoo would be at the helm of the new committee for the party's Dhaka city unit.
The decision to form a 31-member convening committee, to be headed by Abbas and Mintoo, was made by party chairperson Khaleda Zia, in consultation with the senior leaders, late last night at her Gulshan office.
However, any official announcement in this regard was yet to come till filing of this report around 1am.
The convening committee will form the main working committee of the party's city unit within a very short time by holding a council, party insiders have said.
A senior leader said BNP Standing Committee Member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy is the other member of the convening committee and Abdul Kayeum, Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Abul Khayer Bhuyan, Salahuddin Ahmed, SA Khalek, Mohammad Sahabuddin and Mohammad Anwar will be joint conveners.
The new convening committee will be assigned to form all thana and ward level committees and hold council of the Dhaka city unit in three months.
There are chances that the formation of the convening committee will be announce later today in the absence of incumbent convener Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
The new convening committee has no member secretary post unlike the current committee. Khoka is now in the USA for treatment.
Sources said Khoka, who had been at the helm of the Dhaka city unit BNP for the last 17 years, tried his best to cling to the post.
To this end, he even held a meeting with the BNP chairperson; but he failed to manage the party chief.
On March 12, Khoka at a sudden press conference said he did not want to stay in the committee and requested the BNP chairperson to reconstitute the city committee.
The city unit was formed on May 14, 2011 with Sadeque Hossain Khoka as its convener and Abdus Salam the member secretary.
Khaleda in a standing committee meeting on March 9 this year, decided to reorganise the city unit. A month before, she slammed the city unit leaders for failing to give momentum to the street movement that preceded the January 5 poll and threatened to form a new committee dissolving the existing one.
Admitting their failure, the city leaders said they had not been brave enough to face the law enforcers who “opened fire” on them. Abdus Salam, member secretary of the unit, urged Khaleda to pardon them and form the new committee including the existing leaders.
This made Khaleda furious. She shot back at him saying: “[How dare] you dictate me! Do I have to ask you who I will keep in the committee? Shut up!”
Khaleda had repeatedly asked the city unit leaders to take to the streets but they did not pay any heed. Rather they went into hiding to avert arrest.
After the January 5 election, she said the committees would be reformed before waging movement.