Prof. Yunus to meet BNP's acting chairman Tarique Rahman in London on Friday
The Chief Adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh Prof. Mohammed Yunus will meet Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday June (13, 2025) in London, said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, general secretary of BNP on Tuesday (June 10, 2025). Mr. Rahman has been living in London for nearly 18 years since the last BNP government lost power in 2006 and had been advocating early election in Bangladesh.
'The meeting was under discussion since the London visit of the Chief Adviser was being planned. We had a meeting of the standing committee of the party during Monday (June 9, 2025) night under the leadership of Tarique Rahman.
'A formal invite for the meeting was extended to the Chief Adviser for June 13,' said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a press conference in Dhaka. Bangladesh's politics has been dominated for more than four decades by the two big political formations– Awami League and the BNP– out of which the Awami League's political activities were banned by the interim government in May leaving out the BNP which had also turned critical of Prof. Yunus.
Mr. Rahman had addressed a rally of the BNP on May 28, 2025, through a video link where he had criticised the interim government and called upon Prof. Yunus to hold elections in December 2025. However, Prof. Yunus on June 7 delivered a speech on the eve of Id holidays and announced the next election in Bangladesh will be held in April 2026. BNP criticised the decision to hold the election citing the weather condition of April that makes it difficult for political parties to campaign.
BNP's criticism of the interim government added to similar criticism that was made first by Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman who expressed unhappiness over the style of functioning of the interim government and some of their main projects including the 'humanitarian corridor' to Rakhine province of Myanmar. Following the criticism by General Zaman, Prof. Yunus had met a large number of representatives of political parties that included representatives from the BNP.
However a meeting with the BNP's leadership will also be watched closely by all stakeholders in Bangladesh as the Yunus administration appears to be favouring the National Citizens Party (NCP) that was launched on February 28 to push the political ideas that powered the uprising against Sheikh Hasina's government in August 2025.
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