Staff Correspondent Courtesy New age 16/11/09
The opposition BNP's sub-committee on the amendment to the party constitution and the manifesto on Sunday night submitted a 40-point amendment proposal to the standing committee consolidating the authority of the party chairperson.
The sub-committee convener, Tariqul Islam, also a vice-chairman of the party, at a briefing in the party chairperson's office at Gulshan said they had submitted about 40 amendment proposals to update the constitution in the light of the present-day requirement and 'some bitter experience' of the past.
The committee members at the briefing declined to detail the proposals. Tariqul only said the ideals and spirit of the constitution would remain unchanged and there would be some addition to some chapters of the constitution.
Joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan said they had proposed not to allow a person to hold more than one post in any tier of the party. The standing committee will evaluate the proposals and they would be placed in the national council session for approval, he said.
Party insiders said the amendment proposals related to the election of the secretary general
in the national council session and expansion of the central executive committee.
Both the chairperson and the secretary general will, according to a proposal, be elected by councillors and both of them will be elected for three years, sources in the committee said.
The sub-committee has proposed formation of advisory committees at all tiers of the organisation, increasing the number of joint secretaries general to 11 and introducing five more divisional secretaries for women affairs.
Keeping in mind the October 29, 2007 meeting at the house of the standing committee member Saifur Rahman, the sub-committee proposed a provision that will allow only the chairperson to convene standing committee meetings.
The proposals include expanding the central executive committee to 351 members from the existing 251 to incorporate more leaders into the central level. All units of the party will have new posts of secretaries for religious affairs, freedom fighters' affairs, human resources affairs, law affairs, and science and technology affairs.
If members of the party contest in any election in violation of the party decision against candidates nominated by the party, they will be expelled from the party, the proposals said.
It also made it mandatory for activists to take permission from respective committees for the use of portraits of the party founder, the late president Ziaur Rahman, chairperson Khaleda Zia, and the party's senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman in posters or leaflets.
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