Dhaka: BNP national executive committee’s daylong meeting started at Hotel Le Meridian on Saturday morning with its chairperson Khaleda Zia in chair, as a court is set to deliver verdict on February 8 in a graft case filed against her.

The inaugural session of meeting started at 11:05 am where a condolence motion was adopted for the eminent personalities and party activists who have died recently. The BNP leaders and activists observed a one-minute silence to show respect to them.

Organizational report will be placed by the party’s Secretary General at this session and the BNP chief is expected to give fresh directive to her party leaders and activists about the party’s next course of action, future movement centering the next general election.

In the concluding session of the meeting a closed-door meeting will be between Khaleda Zia and the party’s top leaders.

Around 450 leaders, including standing committee members, executive committee members, and vice-chairmen, chairperson’s advisers and presidents and secretaries of the party’s different associate bodies, attended the meeting.

‘Our chairperson will come up with necessary directives to our party men on the current political situation, our party’s future course of action, the general election and some other important issues,’ BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told UNB on Friday.

In her speech at the concluding session, the BNP chief will give her party leaders necessary directives to remain united under any circumstances and carry out the movement peacefully as well as take preparations for the next election, even if she is convicted.

Khaleda is also expected to unveil plans before the party leaders how the party will be run in her absence and how the party will prepare for the next general election.

BNP formed its 502-member national executive committee on August 6, 2016 over four and a half months after its national council held on March 19.

As per the party’s constitution, the meeting of the executive committee should be held after every six months, but it could not hold any meeting over the last one and a half years.

Now, the meeting was called as the Special Court-5 in Dhaka on Thursday fixed February 8 to deliver its verdict in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case filed against Khaleda and five others.

Khaleda will be disqualified for the next general election if she is convicted in the case.