Party colleagues slam Moudud
The BNP standing committee members Sunday night lambasted party leader Moudud Ahmed for "repeatedly embarrassing" the party by making political statements to the press on his own.
They said they believe Moudud, also a member of the committee and former law minister, is doing it to show that he is the leader and authority of the main opposition BNP.
These views came at a standing committee meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at the party's Gulshan office in absence of Moudud, who left for the USA on Sunday morning for two months to attend a Harvard University programme.
Meeting sources said majority of the committee supported anti-Moudud statements, but Khaleda did not utter a word when Moudud was being castigated.
According to the party leaders, Moudud is considered as a very influential leader in BNP as he has been defending Khaleda and her sons in court. Besides, Moudud has strong ties with Khaleda for years and on several occasions she had taken crucial political decisions in consultation with him when BNP was in power.
Moudud also leads a party team that works on the constitution and legal issues centring the caretaker government system.
On August 11, Moudud said BNP will make public a draft outline of a non-party caretaker government after Eid-ul-Fitr.
He said the standing committee had decided to prepare the outline of a caretaker government, as a free and fair election is not possible under a political government.
Later on August 13, acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir rejected Moudud's statement saying BNP did not take any decision to that end.
Understanding the party high-ups' view, Moudud later changed his stance and said on August 24 the party was thinking about nonstop movement instead of formulating an outline of the non-party government.
Standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Mia raised the issue at Sunday's meeting, saying some senior leaders are making freestyle statements.
"Moudud Ahmed made advanced statements. He even said many things what we did not discuss in meetings," he alleged.
He added Moudud wants to show his dominance and leadership by making advance statements on crucial issues which is not fair, said meeting sources.
The sources said Jamiruddin Sircar echoed the same and said even they cannot speak in the party meetings as Moudud himself wants to say everything. "Today he is absent and that is why I got the chance to speak," he said.
Nazrul Islam Khan said statements being made by Moudud on behalf of the party often embarrass the standing committee members. "We don't know anything, but he [Moudud] is disclosing it to the media."
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