Photo: Collected
BNP standing committee members and the party’s senior leaders exchanged greetings with their Chairperson Khaleda Zia on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha on Monday (17 June) night.
Six BNP standing committee members Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, Jamiruddin Sircar, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Nazrul Islam Khan, and Selima Rahman visited Khaleda's house 'Firoza' in Gulshan around 8:30 pm and stayed there for nearly an hour.
Talking to reporters after leaving Firoza, Mosharraf said, “On this holy Eid day, we came to congratulate BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. You know that every year we come together to wish our leader on the occasion of Eid. We did the same this year.”
He mentioned that their party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir could not join them as he was staying at his village home.
Mosharraf, who has been suffering from critical illness for almost a year, said, “We meet our leader every during Eid and exchange Eid greetings. But we don't discuss politics here, and neither does our leader. The same thing happened today."
He expressed concern that the people of the country could not celebrate Eid joyfully due to the bad economic conditions. “Our leader also expressed sorrow over it.”
The BNP leader said Khaleda congratulated the people of the country and the leaders and workers of the party on the occasion of Eid.
Later, nine senior BNP leaders, including Vice Chairmen Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, Abdullah Al Noman, Barkatullah Bulu, Abdul Awal Minoo, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, party chairperson’s Advisors Suja Uddin, Abdul Qayyum, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, and Organising Secretary Syed Imran Saleh Prince, met the Chairperson and exchanged Eid greetings.
On the eve of Eid, Liberal Democratic Party Chairman Oli Ahmed also visited the BNP Chairperson at her residence in Gulshan.
The 79-year-old former prime minister has long been battling various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.
Khaleda was sent to jail on February 8, 2018, after being convicted in corruption cases.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, on the condition that she would stay at her Gulshan house and would not leave the country.
Messenger/Mumu