BNP will hold a public rally in Dhaka on September 1 to observe the party's 40th founding anniversary.

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of the party, announced the programme yesterday at a press conference at the party's Nayapaltan central office.

“We will seek permission from the authorities concerned to hold the rally either at Suhrawardy Udyan or in front of our Nayapaltan office,” he said.

Rizvi said the party will arrange two doa mahfils today -- one at its Nayapaltan office at 11:00am and the other at BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office in the evening, marking Khaleda Zia's 74th birthday.

Besides, he said, the party will arrange doa mahfils in all upazilas and districts across the country today to pray for her recovery from illness and release from jail.

Khaleda has been in a special jail on the premises of the former central jail in Old Dhaka since she was convicted in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case by a lower court on February 8.

Late Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978 when he was in power, in an apparent move to consolidate his rule. After Zia's assassination in 1981, the Abdus Sattar-led government of BNP remained in power for a brief period.

HM Ershad seized power in a military coup on March 24, 1982 and later became president.

After nine years of movement against Ershad's autocratic rule, BNP again came to power in 1990 under Khaleda Zia's leadership, following Ershad's resignation.