Conformists, dissidents in BNP stand their grounds

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The dissident and conformist groups in the BNP have continued campaigns for their respective enterprises with both sides claiming they are in favour of time-befitting democratisation in the party.
The BNP secretary general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, who is leading the dissident group, on Friday claimed that the response to his party democratisation move from grassroots activists was stupendous.
ASM Hannan Shah, a conformist and adviser to the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, on Friday called upon the party men to remain united and not to be misled by the ‘troublemakers’—a reference to the dissidents.
‘There has been significant progress and we are now working at grassroots level and drawing huge support for the reforms move,’ the party
secretary general said
outside his residence before leaving for a mosque to say Jumma prayers.
‘After adequate preparations for holding the council session, we would approach the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, for her permission,’ Bhuiyan said but skipped a question whether relations between him and the party chairperson were acrimonious.
‘If she refuses to give us the nod to convene the council, we will think about what could be done,’ he said.
‘We have placed our reform proposal and our first job is mobilising public opinion for it. We are also doing it outside the party and among the councillors,’ he said.
Bhuiyan talked to the press on Friday several days after the media reported that the dissidents in the party had taken a go-slow tactics because of pressure from within the party over the procedure of holding the council session.
Talking to reporters in Gazipur on Friday, Hannan Shah, released recently from jail, said there was nothing called requisition meeting in the BNP constitution. ‘Some people are trying to employ the tactics of blackmail in the name of
requisition council, he said, adding, ‘Their design will not succeed.’
He claimed that the chairperson had asked him to spread the message of unity among the party activists when he talked to her over phone on Thursday.
He said the BNP would be run as per its constitution and reforms were to be carried out through a council, also as per the party constitution.
The BNP chairperson is also in favour of time-befitting reforms in the party, Hannan Shah, who was a state minister in Khaleda Zia’s 1991-1996 cabinet, added.
Referring to the conciliatory tone of the dissidents in BNP, Hannan Shah said they had been forced to soften their tone realising the ground reality.
Mannan Bhuiyan announced a 15-point plan on June 25 for the democratisation of the party and a revised 14-point proposal on July 12 for reforms of state institutions.
The plan suggests that a person should not be chairperson or secretary general of the party for more than two terms, each of three years, or six years.
A section of the dissidents want to press ahead with the democratisation plan while
others want to go slow, keep
the party united and
persuade the chairperson, Khaleda Zia, to accept reforms with good grace.
The hardliners among the dissidents are pressing for holding council session by August amid the restrictions on political activities and have taken a tough stance against Khaleda. Others in the group seem to prefer a conciliatory approach and a balance of power in the top leadership without ditching Khaleda and avoiding a split in the party.
At one stage of debate, the dissidents openly said they preferred a requisition council, fearing that Khaleda might refuse to convene the council session.
Bhuiyan seems to be trying to balance the two factions within the dissident camp asking them not to mention any tentative date for the council session.
A key dissident leader said they were taking time to ‘reshuffle’ a number of grassroots level committees to ensure their support in the council.
Khaleda, in several teleconferences with expatriate Bangladeshis and party activists, labelled the dissidents as conspirators who, she said, were out to split the party.

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