Set to hit campaign trailTarique to visit Ctg tonight after two decades

BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman is travelling to Chattogram on Saturday night, after a long hiatus of nearly two decades.

Tarique is due to arrive in Chattogram by air from Dhaka at 7:35pm on Saturday and will stay overnight in the city.

On Sunday, he is scheduled to attend a “Youth Policy Talk” with 300 university students at a hotel, where he is expected to outline the party’s positions on education, employment, agriculture, healthcare, women’s empowerment and environmental issues.

Later in the day, Tarique will address a large election rally at Chattogram’s Polo Ground.

The BNP leader is also expected to speak at campaign rallies in Feni, Cumilla, Daudkandi and Narayanganj over the coming days.

Party officials said senior leaders from BNP’s affiliated and associate organisations would accompany him during the Chattogram tour, as they did during his Sylhet visit.

Preparations are already under way at the venue, with stage construction in progress, while the city has been adorned with arches and banners to welcome the party leader.

Tarique Rahman last visited Chattogram in 2005, during the tenure of the four-party alliance government, when he served as the BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General.

Chattogram Metropolitan BNP Joint Convener Shawkat Azam Khaja said the party wanted Tarique Rahman’s arrival to take place in a festive atmosphere and expressed confidence that the preparations were moving in that direction.

“The entire people of Chattogram are waiting to welcome Tarique Rahman in a celebratory mood,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chattogram Metropolitan BNP Convener Md Ershad Ullah said that despite numerous obstacles in the past, BNP rallies had drawn crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

He added that party leaders expect an overwhelming turnout this time as well, with crowds spilling beyond the Polo Ground and onto the city streets centred around Tarique Rahman’s visit.

Tarique launched his election campaign on Jan 22 at the Alia Madrasa ground in Sylhet, where he addressed seven rallies across Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Kishoreganj, Narsingdi and Narayanganj.