Students who led anti-Hasina protests to launch party today

DHAKA: The students who played a key role in overthrowing the Sheikh Hasina govt last year will announce their party at a mega rally on Friday, making Jatiya Nagorik Party (JNP) the latest entrant in the heated political jostling in Bangladesh ahead of the expected elections in Dec .

The new party includes key organisers from the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) group that spearheaded the Aug uprising against Hasina’s jobs quota order. The leadership details will be unveiled formally at the rally, said JNP and SAD. According to sources, Md Nahid Islam, who recently resigned from the post of I&B adviser of the Yunus government, is likely to head the new party as its convener.

Meanwhile, the two longstanding allies, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), appear to be drifting apart. The rift seemingly grew after the dates for elections were made public. BNP, which emerged as the largest party after the fall of the Awami govt, prioritised national polls, Jamaat showed support for conducting local govt elections first.