The BNP is planning to overhaul its central and grassroots committees, along with affiliated and associate bodies, to address gaps that exist in the current organisational structure.
The party has largely been operating expired committees of affiliated and associate bodies that have been functioning on a limited scale.
Besides, after the February 12 election, several key leaders have taken on government roles, and dozens of others have been removed, creating a vacuum in the organisational structure, weakening coordination between central and grassroots units, and slowing decision implementation.
Party insiders say a major restructuring is long overdue, with plans to bring in fresh faces to policymaking so the BNP can strengthen its organisation and deliver on election promises.
At a recent meeting, advisers urged BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman to expedite the restructuring process to begin revitalising the organisation.
Four BNP Standing Committee members told this correspondent that the reorganisation is likely to begin after Eid.
The BNP last held its national council party’s top policymaking body, on March 19, 2016. These councils decide on the various committees, each of which serves a three‑year term.
So the party constitution requires a council every three years, but leaders said it could not be held under the Awami League regime in the past 17 years due to political, legal, and organisational constraints.
The high command has yet to decide on holding the next council.
Talking to reporters at his Gulshan residence yesterday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “We hope to hold the council this year, but no date has been fixed yet.”
The terms of 10 out of 11 committees of BNP and its affiliated and associate bodies having expired, say party insiders.
Committees of Chhatra Dal, Swechchhasebak Dal, Krishak Dal, Mohila Dal, Muktijoddha Dal, Sramik Dal, Tanti Dal and Jatiotabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (JASAS) have expired; Jubo Dal’s partial committee is yet to be expanded into a full one; and Matsyajibi Dal has had no committee since 2024.
Chhatra Dal’s committee expired on March 1 this year. Most leaders of the 257‑member committee enrolled in undergraduate studies a decade ago and were expected to graduate years earlier. With the term expired, lobbying for new positions has intensified.
The Jubo Dal central committee remains incomplete one and a half years after a partial committee was announced on July 9, 2024. The committee has yet to be expanded.
The Swechchhasebak Dal committee, formed on September 4, 2022, completed its term last year.
Krishak Dal’s committee expired one and a half years ago.
Mohila Dal’s committee, formed in 2016 for a two‑year term, has functioned for nearly a decade under Afroza Abbas and Sultana Ahmed.
Muktijoddha Dal and Sramik Dal are operating with committees formed more than a decade ago. The last council of Muktijoddha Dal was held in December 2013, while Sramik Dal’s committee dates back to April 2014. Neither has held new councils since.
The committee of Tati Dal, formed in 2019, completed its term in 2022. Matsyajibi Dal’s committee was dissolved in September 2024, but no new committee has been announced.
JASAS’s committee, with a three‑year term, has been in place for nearly five years, with limited activity beyond commemorations.
