A faction of National People’s Party, a component of BNP-led 20-party alliance, alleged that the Sonargaon hotel authorities cancelled its booking for an iftar programme scheduled for Sunday on police instruction.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, was scheduled to attend the programme as chief guest.
President of the NNP faction Fariduzzaman Farhad said the hotel authorities informed them that the Ramna police station officer-in-charge, Moshiur Rahman, asked them not to allow the NNP faction to hold the programme at the hotel.
When asked, Moshiur Rahman told Prothom Alo that NNP is registered as a political party in the name of Sheikh Shawkat Hossain Nilu. “A dissident group of the party tried to host the event.”
“When Shawkat Hossain approached the court with the matter, the 4th sub-judge court in Dhaka issued an injunction on the iftar programme. Copies of the injunction have reached the police and the hotel authorities,” he added.
A long-time ally of the BNP-led 20-party, Shawkat Hossain Nilu split away the opposition alliance in 2014 and joined the ruling Awami League-led coalition.
But, the then secretary general of the NPP, Fariduzzaman, opposed Nilu’s decision and claimed himself to be the president of the party.
Source: Prothom Alo