The time has come: Khaleda Zia's son ends 26-year exile to contest Bangladesh polls

After 26 years in self-exile, Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of Bangladesh’s main opposition party and son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, has declared that his return home is imminent.

"For some reasonable reasons my return has not happened... but the time has come, and I will return soon," Rahman said in an interview with BBC Bangla on Monday, confirming he plans to contest the February general election.

The 58-year-old de facto chief of the Bangladesh ist Party (BNP) said, "I am running in the election (as well)."

When asked if he intends to become prime minister should his party form the next government, Rahman said: "The people will decide."

Rahman was sent to London in 2008 by the then army-backed caretaker government for medical treatment as he faced several graft and criminal cases. One of those cases accused him of masterminding the 2004 grenade attack on then, opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, a charge he has long denied.

Since then, he has remained in London throughout Hasina’s 15-year rule, widely seen as avoiding potential imprisonment during a turbulent era for the BNP. His mother and BNP matriarch Khaleda Zia, now 80 and in poor health, has largely withdrawn from active politics.

Rahman’s announcement comes as Bangladesh enters a period of unprecedented political change. The once-dominant Awami League, led by Hasina, was dissolved by the interim government under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who took charge following last year’s "July Uprising" — a youth-led movement that toppled the regime.

The Yunus administration has proposed a "July Declaration", calling for constitutional recognition of the uprising, trials for deposed leaders, and protection for its participants.

BNP AGREES TO REFERENDUM ALONGSIDE ELECTION

While Rahman’s BNP initially opposed holding a referendum on the declaration, the party shifted stance this week, agreeing that it could be held alongside the national vote.

BNP standing committee member Salahuddin Ahmed clarified on Sunday that the referendum "could be held on the day of voting and not before," warning that a separate plebiscite would delay election preparations.

"If we try to hold a separate referendum before the election, it will need the same preparations, manpower, logistics, and budget as a general election. This will only waste time and delay the polls," Ahmed said.

With Hasina now in India and her top aides either jailed or absconding, the BNP finds itself at the centre of Bangladesh’s new political order. The Jamaat-e-Islami and the recently formed Citizen Party (NCP) -- believed to have Yunus’s backing -- are pushing for the July Declaration to be enshrined in the Constitution.

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With inputs from agencies