The 18-party alliance might announce a fresh agitation for a non-party caretaker government after a secretary general-level meeting at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office today.
The meeting was scheduled for yesterday at the BNP headquarters in Nayapaltan after a gayebana janaza (funeral prayer in absence of the dead body) for the opposition men killed in the 60-hour hartal that ended on Wednesday.
The opposition has failed to decide on the next course in its ongoing movement despite two separate meetings of BNP standing committee and the alliance with Khaleda in the chair.
The chief of a component in the 18-party combine told The Daily Star that the BNP did not tell them why the meeting date was changed.
They only know that Khaleda Zia was taking time to finalise a fresh agitation, considering the Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations starting on Monday, the October-November session of the O- and A-level exams and the BDR mutiny verdict due on Tuesday.
Some BNP leaders told The Daily Star that they did not hold the meeting at the BNP headquarters yesterday fearing some "miscreants" might create anarchy there and police might take action against the party leaders.
Gulshan office is safer than Nayapaltan, they added.
"Getting nod from Khaleda Zia, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at the meet may inform the secretaries general of allies about the next programme," said a leader of the alliance.
On October 29, the BNP standing committee, the highest policy-making body of the main opposition party, decided to call a three-day blockade of roads and rail and waterways for Monday next.
But, the next day, the alliance chiefs in a meeting urged Khaleda Zia not to enforce the blockade as it coincided with the exams.
They suggested hartal for this week keeping the examinations out of the purview.
Bangladesh Islamic Party Chairman Abdul Mobin told The Daily Star yesterday that they had already given the BNP chief the authority to finalise the fresh agitation.
Around 4:30pm yesterday, the gayebana janaza was held in front of the BNP office in the presence of senior alliance leaders, including the BNP acting secretary general, among others.
The alliance will hold protest rallies in all upazilas today demanding the release of its leaders and activists arrested during the last hartal.