Tarique Rahman formally assumed the position of Chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Friday night in line with the party constitution.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the development after an emergency meeting of the party’s highest policymaking body, the National Standing Committee, held at the party Chairman’s Gulshan office with Tarique Rahman in the chair.
“An emergency meeting of the National Standing Committee was held tonight at 9:00pm…At the meeting, the Standing Committee expressed satisfaction as Tarique Rahman, who had been the Acting Chairman, has now assumed the responsibility of Chairman in accordance with the party constitution,” he said.
The BNP leader said their meeting also offered prayers for the Chairman’s success in leading the party.
Replying to a question, the BNP Secretary General said, “Once someone becomes Chairman, there is no post of Acting Chairman.”
The meeting was attended by Standing Committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Selima Rahman and Hafiz Uddin Ahmed.
Earlier, a BNP Standing Committee member told UNB that Tarique Rahman had formally become Chairman as per the party constitution.
He said the decision was unanimously approved at the Standing Committee meeting.
Following the death of former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, the issue was discussed within the party as Tarique Rahman, then serving as Senior Vice Chairman, automatically became Chairman under the BNP constitution.
According to Article 7 (Ga), sub-clause 3 of the BNP constitution, if the position of Chairman falls vacant for any reason, the Senior Vice Chairman shall assume the post for the remainder of the term and continue until a new Chairman is elected under the constitution.
As per sub-clause 2, Tarique Rahman had long been serving as Acting Chairman of the party.
After Khaleda Zia was sent to prison on February 8, 2018, Tarique Rahman, as Senior Vice Chairman, automatically took over the responsibility of Acting Chairman under the party constitution.
Although he held the post in an acting capacity for about seven years, he effectively led and managed the party throughout this period.
Due to imprisonment and prolonged illness, Khaleda Zia was unable to perform organisational or executive responsibilities. From exile in London, Tarique Rahman oversaw the party and its affiliated organisations.
The BNP was founded on September 1, 1978 by then President Ziaur Rahman, Tarique Rahman’s father, who served as the party’s Chairman.
After President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in Chattogram on May 30, 1981, the then Acting President Justice Abdus Sattar took over as Acting Chairman of the party.
Later, following consultations with senior party leaders, Begum Khaleda Zia, the widow of Ziaur Rahman, was entrusted with the leadership of the BNP. She served as party Chairperson for 41 consecutive years.
According to information on the BNP website, Khaleda Zia became a primary member of the party on January 3, 1982. In March 1983, she was made Senior Vice Chairman. On January 12, 1984, she was nominated as Acting Chairperson and, on May 10 the same year, she was elected unopposed as BNP Chairperson.
She later served as Prime Minister of Bangladesh after winning the fifth, sixth and eighth national parliamentary elections in 1991, 1996 and 2001 respectively.
Tarique joined BNP as a primary member through Bogura BNP. He actively participated in nationwide election campaigns alongside his mother during the 1991 parliamentary election.
In the 2001 election, he played a major role in election planning and campaigning across the country, marking his active entry into national politics.
In 2002, he was appointed Senior Joint Secretary General following a decision of the party’s Standing Committee.
Tarique Rahman takes a quiet walk to BNP’s Gulshan office
He later focused on reorganising the party at the grassroots level by holding union-level representative conferences.
At the party’s fifth national council in 2009, Tarique Rahman was elected Senior Vice Chairman. Through the sixth national council in 2016, he was further involved with the party’s top policymaking forum.
In 2018, in the absence of the Chairperson, he formally assumed the responsibility of Acting Chairman, a role he continued until becoming the full Chairman of the BNP.
Begum Khaleda Zia died on December 30 last year and was laid to rest beside her husband’s grave at Zia Udyan near the Parliament complex in the capital.