C T Online Desk: BNP Standing Committee members on Sunday night met party Chairperson Khaleda Zia and discussed the country’s political situation and the party’s strategy ahead of the next parliamentary elections.
The party policymakers met the BNP chief at her Gulshan residence in the capital at 9:12pm.
“The BNP Standing Committee members inquired after the health of the BNP chairperson and prayed for her early recovery. She is going abroad soon for better treatment,” BNP Media Cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan told the Daily Sun.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Jamir Uddin Sircar, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Salauddin Ahmed, Selima Rahman, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and AZM Zahid Hossain met Khaleda Zia.
The BNP secretary general told reporters after the meeting that Khaleda Zia would fly to London on Tuesday.
“We prayed for her earliest recovery and expressed hope that she will lead the democratic movement after returning home,” he said.
The BNP chairperson instructed the party men to work for the people, he added.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Chairman Oli Ahmad also called on the BNP chairperson.
Oli Ahmad went to Khaleda Zia’s residence, Feroza, around 7:15pm and had a 30-minute meeting before leaving around 8pm.
During the meeting, the LDP chief exchanged greetings with the BNP chief and enquired about her physical condition, said his Press Secretary Salah Uddin Razzak.
BNP sources said the BNP chief would be taken to London in an air ambulance from Qatar Airways.
A 15-member delegation, including Syeda Sharmila Rahman, wife of Khaleda’s late son Arafat Rahman Koko, some physicians and BNP leaders, her personal secretary, and two housemaids, will accompany her during the London tour.
Khaleda Zia’s office has already informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of her treatment abroad, including details of her entourage.
Khaleda, also a former prime minister, has long been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.
On 26 October 2023, three US specialist doctors completed the hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accretion in her stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.
