Khaleda has already hinted that she might expel Bhuiyan for what she said was conspiring to split the party.

On the other hand, the pro-reform leaders have said they would resist the former prime minister taking any action against the secretary general. They have rejected the allegations that Khaleda levelled against them during a teleconference with the BNP Australia chapter Saturday and likened her speech to 'grasping at straws'.

They also warned the party chief 'not to throw stones living in a house of glass'.

In her latest speech, Khaleda described the ones working towards reforms as betrayers. She said the only agenda of the 'so-called reformists' is to split the party and so they are desperate to hold a council even amid a state of emergency.

Taking a swipe at Bhuiyan, the chairperson said he is not capable of taking the command of the BNP. "He does not even believe in the party's ideology," she quipped.

Asked whether she would expel him, Khaleda said, "Everyone is asking me to do so...let's see."

Meanwhile, some leaders think that the secretary general should meet Khaleda soon to resolve the differences over the proposed reforms and a council.

They said if she could have a teleconference with the leaders and workers abroad then why she does not talk to those at home.

Adviser to the BNP chairperson ASM Hannan Shah, who was released from jail on Saturday, said anyone can talk about the party affairs, but they must do that at the party forum first.

Asked about Khaleda's observations about Bhuiyan, he said, "Of course I support what she has said."

Hannan was talking to reporters at his Mohakhali DOHS residence yesterday. About the initiative for a council, he questioned, "Are we authorised to do it?"

Queried about Khaleda's allegations against the pro-reform leaders, ZA Khan, another adviser to the chairperson, the same day said such speeches would cause division in the BNP.

"It's like a drowning person clutching at straws," he said after meeting the secretary general at his Gulshan residence. "If we are traitors...then who are the adherents?" he questioned.

"They have nurtured dictatorship in the name of democracy and it was hard to speak up against them...Badruddoza Chowdhury and Major Mannan are the examples," he said.

Rehana Akhter Ranu, a former lawmaker close to the party chairperson, told The Daily Star, "Someone who simultaneously won from five constituencies a couple of times cannot be termed a drowning person."

"The time will come when the party leaders and workers will prove actually who are hurling stones from a glasshouse," she added.

Earlier, advisers to the chairperson Mofazzal Karim, Enam Ahmed Chowdhury and MA Hakim expressed solidarity with Bhuiyan's initiative for reforms in the BNP. But Standing Committee member RA Goni has criticised the secretary general for going public with the reform proposals instead of discussing those at the party forum.