Grassroots level leaders unhappy: Khaleda begins talks with seniors

Ehsanul Haque Jasim :The grassroots level leaders and workers of BNP are unhappy with some central leaders of the party for their poor performance and also for their failure to resist the January-5 election, party insiders said. They are now expressing their annoyance openly just after getting chance to express this views. In this backdrop, BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has decided to hold talks with the grassroots leaders to reorganise the party taking into consideration opinion of the grassroots level leaders and workers. She has started talks through holding meeting with the leaders of Panchagarh, Nilphamari and Syedpur district units on Thursday night at her Gulshan office in the city. She gave guidelines to the leaders on future movement having heard their demands, the meeting sources said. BNP joint secretary general Salahuddin Ahmed, who attended the meeting, told The New Nation that the BNP chief exchanged views with the leaders and gave directives to them for unity. The district level leaders also drew attention of the BNP chief about failure of the party in the recent anti-government movement, he said. Mozahar Ali Prodhan, president of Panchagarh district, said that they have raised question about the role of some central leaders and Jamaat at the meeting. Khaleda Zia heard about the current political situation in the districts. The district level leaders also described their problems, he added. Mohammad Shamsuzzaman, member secretary of the Nilphamari district, said that they told the BNP chief that the grassroots leaders expect the central leaders to become more active to launch a successful movement. Convening committees of Panchagarh and Syedpur district units were formed at the meeting while Khaleda Zia asked for forming full-fledged committee of Nilphamari district unit as early as possible, the meeting sources said. Khaleda Zia will hold talks with grassroots leaders of other places in phases. In the first phase, talks will be held with municipal and thana-level leaders of 13 districts, which will end on April 20. The other districts to be covered under this phase are Naogaon, Netrakona, Brahmanbaria, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Mymensingh, Chuadanga, Khulna, Narail and Satkhira.Alongside with the BNP chief, the central leaders of the party have also started meeting with the grassroots leaders and activists to listen to them and give them directives. Before the meeting with Khaleda Zia, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and three other joint secretary-generals held meeting with the leaders of Panchagarh, Nilphamari and Syedpur districts at the party’s Nayapaltan central office. Meanwhile, Khaleda Zia also decided to visit some districts while senior leaders of the party will hold series of workers and public meetings in every division in the coming months.