Awami League President Sheikh Hasina yesterday said that there would be no room for ‘reformists’, who supported party shake-up during the 1/11 changeover in the country, in the new executive committee of the party that will be formed through the upcoming national council.The 20th national council of Bangladesh Awami League will be held on October 22-23 at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.
The AL president, also the prime minister of the country, came up with the remark at a meeting of the Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC) that lasted for about five hours at Ganabhaban.  
Talking to this correspondent,  AL office secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap, who was present at the meeting, quoted Hasina as saying that those who wanted to minus her (Hasina) from the AL during the 1/11 changeover would not have any seat in the new executive committee.The AL chief, however, did not mention any names, Golap added.
 He also said the party high-ups unanimously approved some changes to the party constitution and the declaration paper for the council programme.  “The ALCWC approved a draft of the party constitution expanding the size of the working committee, a key policy making body of the party,” he said.
As per the decision, the ALCWC that had 73 members will now have 81 members.
The extension will include four posts of the presidium, one joint general secretary, one organising secretary and two member posts of the central working committee.
“The proposal for turning the ALCWC an 81-member body was taken as the incumbent party president returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and she was elected party president in the same year,” said a leader on condition of anonymity.  The meeting also approved the list of 6,570 councilors, who will elect the next leadership through the 20th council session.
Meeting sources said party president Sheikh Hasina withdrew her name from the councillors’ list and expunged the names of her daughter Saima Wazed Putul and Sheikh Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby from the same list.
She also directed other central leaders to avoid becoming councillors from their respective districts.
“I am withdrawing my name as councillor from Gopalganj. You should also withdraw your names from the list of councillors from your respective districts so that more leaders from the grassroots level can come forward as councillors,” said a source quoting the AL president as saying.
The meeting was told that some 52 foreign guests from different countries, including Russia, Canada, Australia, Austria, The Netherlands and India would join the forthcoming council session of the AL, which was founded on June 23 in 1949 at Rose Garden on KM Das Lane in Dhaka.
The meeting discussed elaborately about the session, which would elect the new leadership for facing the upcoming challenges and the next parliamentary polls.
A three-member Election Commission is expected to be formed today to facilitate the party council.
UNB adds: Law enforcement agencies have taken all-out security measures ahead of the Awami League’s upcoming national council to be held at Suhrawardy Udyan in the city, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia.
A multi-tier security has been arranged to ensure the safety of thousands of people who are expected to throng the Suhrawardy Udyan, said the DMP chief while talking to reporters after inspecting the  security arrangements at the Suhrawardy Udyan on Wednesday.
Besides, he said, the entry of common people to the Suhrawardy Udyan will be restricted from October 21.
Archways will be set up at all the entrances of the Suhrawardy Udyan equipped with metal detectors, he said. Replying to a question, the DMP chief said, “There has been no specific threat so far. However, a vested quarter is involved in conspiracy to destabilise the country.” Meanwhile, Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Benazir Ahmed said necessary security measures have been taken as it is a big event.