A group of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Kushtia district unit leaders and activists on Saturday held a sit-in in front of the BNP’s Naya Paltan central office in Dhaka protesting at formation of the new convening committee allegedly including Awami League-aligned businesspeople and excluding loyal BNP leaders.

They held the programme under the banner of ‘We BNP Family’s Kushtia District Unit’.

At the protest, they demanded dissolution of the newly formed Kushtia BNP convening committee and creating a new one prioritising loyal and oppressed party leaders.

Kumarkhali upazila unit BNP member Shaikh Rezaul Karim, also Panti union BNP general secretary, said that the new committee was formed by sidelining dedicated BNP leaders.

He also alleged that Awami League supporters had been included in the committee.

He said that Sheikh Sadi, a businessperson, was appointed as the committee’s joint convener.

He also said that Sadi, a business partner of Awami League leader Mahbubul Alam Hanif, had previously grabbed land in Dhaka during the ousted Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, a matter that made headlines in national newspapers at the time.

He further questioned how Sheikh Sadi, who allegedly did not even hold a basic party membership and had no involvement in BNP’s political programmes could become the district BNP’s joint convener.

‘Sadi reportedly had no cases filed against him by the Awami League, while many dedicated BNP leaders faced torture at the hands of the AL,’ he said.

Mir Mominur Rahman Sujan, the Kushtia district BNP’s former secretary of Child Affairs also criticized the committee.