Reshuffle in BNP cabinet as presidential poll nears

Preparations for the presidential election are almost complete. Voting will take place non-stop from 2pm to 5pm on August 20 in the session chamber of the National Assembly building.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin will oversee the process. Acting President Hafiz Uddin Ahmed has already summoned the third session of the 13th National Assembly for August 27.

Although the main opposition in parliament, Jamaat-e-Islami, has named its alliance candidate knowing defeat is certain, the ruling BNP has yet to formally announce its nominee. 

Party sources say Secretary General and Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is set to be the candidate.

If elected, Mirza Fakhrul would have to resign both as BNP secretary general and as a cabinet minister, triggering significant changes in the party’s policymaking ranks and the government.

Under the party constitution, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi would then serve as acting secretary general. 

Rizvi, currently the prime minister’s political adviser, would hold the post until BNP’s seventh national council, scheduled by December.

Discussions within BNP about the presidential nominee began well before the election schedule was announced. While several names circulated initially, consensus has settled on Mirza Fakhrul. 

Party leaders have declined to comment publicly ahead of the formal submission of nomination papers on Thursday morning.

Two members of the BNP standing committee told Daily Samakal on condition of anonymity that the party wants a candidate with long political experience, broad acceptability, the ability to discharge constitutional duties and a clean record. 

Mirza Fakhrul, they said, meets all those criteria and is widely regarded as qualified and trustworthy.