June 21, 2002	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1423

DHAKA, June 20: Bangladesh President Badruddoza Chowdhury resigned on Thursday after Prime Minster Khalida Zia’a ruling Nationalist Party (BNP) demanded that he step down as head of state, officials said.

The former BNP foreign minister’s move followed a two-day meeting of the ruling party which led to calls for his immediate exit for allegedly failing to pay respect to the party’s founder, a BNP spokesman said.

BNP lawmakers were reported to have criticized Chowdhury for not visiting the grave of slain president Ziaur Rahman, the party’s founder, on his death anniversary on May 30.

A BNP resolution said party MPs “lost confidence in him,” Chief Whip Khandaker Delwar Hossain told reporters.

Mahi Chowdhury, the president’s son and also a BNP lawmaker, told reporters that his father had decided to resign and he would do so on Friday.

“He has made up his mind and he will officially resign tomorrow (Friday) after a trip” outside Dhaka, Mahi said.—AFP