They said a meeting of the AL secretariat at the party's Dhanmondi office yesterday agreed to give the grassroots units three more months till September to hold the councils in view of the ongoing floods in many regions.

The party plans to launch a massive anti-government movement in winter after putting its own house in order through the councils.

The final decision on the extension of the council deadline will, however, come from a meeting of the AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC), the sources said.

The next ALCWC meeting is slated for July 10, four days ahead of the party's planned anti-government showdown at Paltan Maidan.

AL President Sheikh Hasina will address the July 15 public rally to denounce the government's 'misrule and the intention to make the Jatiya Sangsad ineffective'.

The secretariat meeting, chaired by party General Secretary Abdul Jalil, demanded a judicial probe into the ammunition and explosive haul in Bogra and condemned 'an attack' on the AL rally at Luxmipur, allegedly by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activists.

The AL has so far held councils of 280 of 470 thana units and three of 71 organisational districts. Councils of Dhaka, Shariatpur and Manikganj districts are scheduled to be held this month.

September 30 last year was the first deadline for the council of thana units and October 31 for district units. The party deferred the councils due to 'persecution of its political opponents by the ruling four-party alliance'.

The AL held its central council on December 26 and formed a new central committee brining together old guards and fresh faces to perk up the party after its October 2001 ballot debacle.