Many political observers are of the opinion that the BNP chairperson made such rude remarks about the senior leaders when many members of the NEC (particularly the young ones) and the grassroots level leaders complained against a few ministers for not caring about the party activists, and demanded immediate expulsion of some senior leaders from the party for criticising Tarique Rahman, Begum Zia's eldest son and senior joint general secretary of the party.

The media reports suggest that the Young Turks, under the leadership of the senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman, were in total control of the NEC meeting of the party. The deliberations of the meeting were planned and the list of the speakers was carefully prepared in advance through a selection process about which nobody knew anything. The media reports reveal that leaders from at least 41 districts including some important ones like Chittagong, Comilla, Noakhali, Manikganj, Rangpur, and Faridpur were not allowed to address the meeting.

Anyhow, the salient points which were made by the speakers in open deliberations and in the closed door session of the meeting may be listed as follows:

• Resolving internal feuds in the BNP before the next general election.
• Taking action against those who were violating party discipline, in particular expelling dissident leaders Oli Ahmad, a member of the standing committee, and Ashraf Hossain, a joint secretary general, from the party.
• Taking action against the corrupt leaders.
• Curbing prices of essential commodities on an urgent basis, particularly before the holy Ramadan, if the party wanted to win the next election.
• Loss of image of the party due to crossfire by Rab.
• Favouring inclusion of the JP (Ershad) in the alliance, and empowering the party chairperson to take the final decision on the issue.
• BNP means the Zia family, and anybody speaking against this family should be expelled from the party.

Available information reveals that some senior leaders of the BNP, including its secretary general and LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, requested the grassroots level leaders not to talk about the price hike of essential commodities, electricity crisis, and corruption by some ministers, lawmakers, and important leaders of the party.

The BNP high-ups may conveniently avoid discussion on price spiral of essentials, electricity crisis, and unbridled corruption. But will the people, particularly the poor and the fixed wage earners, forget how the price spiral of essentials resulting from a high inflationary rate, syndication by importers close to the ruling alliance, and extortion by ruling party goons have made their lives miserable?

Will the people ever forget how the corruption of the ruling BNP leaders, including ministers and lawmakers, and their men in the administration caused the country to be rated by the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) as the most corrupt in the world during all the past four years of the BNP-led alliance rule? This has tarnished the image of their beloved country at home and abroad.

How will the people forget the Kansat killing of innocent farmers for demanding electricity for irrigating their lands to cultivate boro rice?

The NEC meeting of the BNP has made it crystal clear that the Young Turks in the BNP, led by its senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman, are gaining momentum fast and they seem to be impatient to take over control of the organisation during the course of the ensuing election, much to the disquiet of the senior leaders.

One Dhaka daily (The Bangladesh Today) has written that the single spectacular outcome of the meeting was that through it Tarique Rahman emerged as the second top-most BNP leader, with some speakers even visualising him as the future prime minister of the country. Some speakers pointed out that Tarique Rahman had reorganised the party and turned it into a grassroots force during the last five years.

Insiders have, however, hinted that in the matter of party nominations for election, many of the incumbents may be left out to accommodate new faces chosen by Tarique Rahman. On this issue serious discord may creep up between the old and new forces in the party. Even Khaleda Zia may also be dragged into the matter as the old leaders are most likely to take refuge under her wings.

Excepting dissident leader Oli Ahmad, who has so far strongly opposed the taking over of the party's leadership by the Young Turks led byTarique Rahman, severely criticised "the adulterators, corrupt leaders, and haughty plunderers" of the party, and rebuffed Khaleda Zia's warning to the senior leaders, stating that he was a liberation war hero and that BNP did not make him a hero. Other senior leaders, who are divided into several groups, are tight-lipped.

Now the question may arise as to why the senior leaders are tight-lipped and are unwilling to enter into any conflict with the young leadership of the party.

First, many of the BNP leaders, including ministers, lawmakers, and important party members know that they are not clean. They have amassed huge wealth during the last four plus years of the BNP-led alliance rule. The party high command is fully aware of this and that is why the BNP has refrained from taking any legal measures to fulfill its 2001 election pledge for the disclosure of assets and properties of all elected people's representatives, including the prime minister, ministers, and others with the rank and status of minister.

Second, politics has become a lucrative business in the country. Election as an MP or appointment as a minister brings a politician money, power, influence, and social prestige. So, the senior leaders do not want to enter into any conflict with the young leadership to risk their political career. Senior leaders like Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui and Moudud Ahmed reportedly spoke very highly of Tarique Rahman, apparently to secure their political future, many believe.

Third, some senior leaders are eager to fully establish their sons in politics while they (senior leaders) are active in politics. Some political observers feel that this eagerness has influenced Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman to continue to play along. There are reports that Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar is eager to see his son replace him as MP in his constituency. So he has been playing want many see as a blatantly partisan role in running the parliament to please the BNP high-ups. It may not be difficult to find more such cases in the near future.

To conclude, Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's warning to the senior leaders of the BNP regarding their turning to zeroes from heroes when out of the party was apparently a strategy to prevent the emergence of any more dissidents like Oli Ahmad. Only time will tell as to what extent the strategy, or warning, actually works.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary to the government.