BANGLADESH

Two of the Awami League's Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) mayoral candidates will meet parliament's deputy leader on Sunday morning to finalise who gets party support for the polls.

"The two candidates will sit with the parliament deputy leader at 10am Sunday at the party president's Dhanmondi office," the ruling party's joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif told reporters on Saturday.

"Hopefully there will be a final decision on party support at this meeting," he said.

Former MP Shamim Osman and former Naryanganj municipality mayor Selina Hayat Ivy are among other Awami League members who submitted nomination papers for the elections to the newly formed NCC.

Prime minister and party chief Sheikh Hasina has already held a meeting with the two but failed to reach an accord.

Hasina sat at her political office at Dhanmondi on Saturday and held a meeting with the central leadership.

"She instructed us to strengthen the party at the grassroots," Hanif told the press in the evening.

Hasina approved of organising committees for two metropolitan and three district level conferences, he said.

"She also said Awami League believes in democracy and BNP should be able to observe its road march programme peacefully," Hanif said.