The ostensible message from Khaleda came to Hannan, according to his own claim, after Dhaka City Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka in an interview on Thursday had said now is the time to curb the absolute power of the party chairperson to make the party pro-people as part of bringing reforms to the organisation.

Hannan Shah told reporters that Mayor Khoka is talking about reforms because he wants to avoid being arrested like the mayors of Chittagong and Sylhet cities and like some municipality chairmen due to their alleged involvements in corruption.

Denying the allegation, Khoka told The Daily Star last night, "I did not say anything against the party chairperson... I talked about bringing reforms to the party and said power should be decentralised in the organisation, but Hannan Shah failed to comment on that."

"I don't know whether there is any plan to arrest me..... He [Hannan Shah] might know if he has any link with the government, but I don't want to comment the way he did," Khoka, also the president of Dhaka city unit BNP said.

He also said, "We want to make our party pro-people through reforms under the leadership of Khaleda Zia when the ban on indoor politics will be lifted."

Rejecting Khoka's rebuttal, Hannan told the reporters that major decisions in BNP are always taken through discussions in the party standing committee, the highest forum of the organisation, in line with its constitution.

"He [khoka] could have placed his proposal to the chairperson during his recent visit to her cantonment residence, which he didn't," Hannan said.

BNP's dirty laundry is being publicly displayed by the two important leaders at a time when voices for bringing reforms to the party is getting louder by the day among a section of the leaders who are trying to form a reformist group within the party in a bid to ensure democratic practices in the organisation, sources said.

Meanwhile, another section of the leaders, seemingly unflinchingly loyal to the party chairperson and her family, claims that the rival group donned the reformist garb as part of its proponents' strategy for avoiding arrests or harassments.

According to party sources, some leaders, who are known to be liberals, had a series of meetings to figure out a strategy for bringing reforms to the party. They will place their proposals to the party's policy makers when indoor politics will be allowed by the military backed interim government.

The sources said most of the leaders want to curb the absolute power of the party chairperson as they think the power is chipping away at the democratic spirit, rendering the party chief autocratic and irresponsible.