Dhaka: After over four and a half months of its national council, BNP is likely to announce its full-fledged executive committee and standing committee by Saturday as its chairperson has finalised the two committees.

‘Our chairperson has finalised the full-fledged BNP executive committee and standing committee. It may be announced on Thursday or Saturday,’ a BNP senior leader close to Khaleda Zia told UNB on Wednesday.

The BNP leader who preferred anonymity said either party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will announce the committees through a press conference or Khaleda will do it by issuing a press release.

Contacted, Fakhrul declined to give any specific date for the announcement of the committees. ‘Our chairperson is working on it. It’s almost at the final stage.’

He hoped that party leaders and activists will be rejuvenated after the announcement of the committees.

BNP vice chairman Abdullah Al Noman said it is a very tough job to form the full-fledged executive and standing committees of a big party like BNP. ‘Our chairperson is doing this taking time. I hope the results of her painstaking job will be visible very soon.’

However, a number of BNP senior leaders said the committees will be announced by Saturday if their chairperson does not change her mind.

They said the national executive committee is likely to be 432-member one extending its size from the current 386-member, while the standing committee 21 or 23-member one from the 19-member one.

The BNP chairperson has formed the committee applying a strategy to keep happy all party leaders. ‘Those who won’t get position in the executive committee will be included in the sub-committees to be formed on different ministries. Besides, many mid-ranking leaders will be inducted into different associate bodies of the party.’

A senior leader said party senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman has sent a list of leaders to the party chairperson recently, and Khaleda finalised the committee coordinating the list in consultation with some pro-BNP professionals and intellectuals.

He said the chairperson wants to fully concentrate on forming a united platform for tackling militancy after announcing the committee.

Party insiders said Mairza Fakhrul, Sadek Hossain Khoka, Shah Moazzem, Abdullah Al Noman, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Abdul Awal Mintoo, adv Mahbub Hossain and Selima Rahman are on the priority list to get the berth of standing committee.

At the BNP national council held in the city on March 19, party councillors endorsed Khaleda Zia as party chairperson and her son Tarique Rahman as senior vice chairman.

They also entrusted Khaleda with the responsibility to constitute the party executive committee and stranding committee.

But, she only unveiled the names for 41 posts, including that for secretary-general, senior joint secretary-general, treasurer, joint secretaries general, organising secretaries and assistant organising secretaries.