The Standing Committee of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has approved the appointment of Tarique Rahman as the party’s chairman.
The decision was taken at a meeting held at the party’s Gulshan office on Friday night. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir confirmed the matter to the media after the meeting.
The post of BNP chairman fell vacant following the death of party chairperson and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. In line with the party constitution, a meeting of the National Standing Committee was convened to address the vacancy.
At the meeting, the committee unanimously decided to formally entrust Tarique Rahman with the responsibility of BNP chairman. Through this decision, he assumed office as the party’s chairman in accordance with the BNP constitution.
According to sources at the BNP Media Cell, Tarique Rahman joined street protests alongside his mother during the anti-Ershad movement. He formally joined the BNP in 1988 as a general member of the party’s Gabtali upazila unit.
Ahead of the 1991 national election, he campaigned with Begum Khaleda Zia in almost every district of the country. In 1993, he organized a conference of the BNP’s Bogura district unit, where leadership was elected through a secret ballot. Following the successful conference in Bogura, he encouraged other district units to adopt democratic processes in selecting their leaders.
In 2002, the BNP Standing Committee nominated Tarique Rahman to the post of senior joint secretary. In 2005, he organized grassroots conferences nationwide and held consultations with BNP units in every upazila of Bangladesh.
During the One-Eleven period in 2007, he was arrested and later sent abroad for medical treatment, after which he remained in exile. He returned to the country on December 25, 2025, after 17 years.
Earlier, in 2009, he was elected senior vice-chairman of the BNP. In 2018, when Begum Khaleda Zia was imprisoned, Tarique Rahman was appointed acting chairperson of the party.
