DHAKA: Following in the footsteps of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's eldest son Tarique Rahman, who is beginning to consolidate his position in the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) , former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's only son, Sajib Wajed, seems to have begun the process of taking over the Awami League (AL).

If Sajib eventually enters active politics, or for that matter succeeds Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the process of dynastic politics in Bangladesh will come to a full circle, with both major parties - BNP and AL - accepting family monopoly of the country's mainstream politics.

Sajib Wajed, 33, running a computer business in the United States, came to Dhaka on Dec 22 and left the country on Jan 7. His wife Kristine Overmire, a US national and lawyer by profession, accompanied him during the three-week visit to Bangladesh.

During the visit they went to Tungipara, the ancestral home of Sajib's grandfather, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in the district of Gopalganj, and the National Mausoleum in Savar.

Speculation on Mr Sajib's joining politics began in the local media when his mother, Sheikh Hasina, reportedly expressed her desire that she wanted the Awami League to "accord my son a huge reception" on his arrival in Dhaka.

The speculation gained ground when the party assembled hundreds of its workers outside the airport on Dec 22 for giving Mr Sajib a rousing reception, and senior AL leaders were seen standing under the sun, with bouquets of flowers, to welcome him at the airport.

In the meantime, Mr Sajib spoke to the press on several occasions, addressed some rallies on the way to his ancestral home in Faridpur and formally discussed matters of political importance with the leaders of three of the Awami League's front organizations.

During his discussions with the leaders in question, all of them young people handpicked by his mother, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, they invited Sajib to join active politics "to persuade more than one crore new voters to vote for Awami League in the next general elections", scheduled for 2007.

Sajib Wajed reportedly told them that he was "still undecided on formally joining politics", but assured them that he would be "with you during the election campaign".

"We need to begin work to get 200 seats, of which 180 must be secured, in the 300-seat parliament in the elections," Mr Sajib was quoted to have said at one of the closed-door meetings that he had with young leaders.

He is also learnt to have blamed "intra-party feuds" for the massive electoral debacle in the last parliamentary polls held in 2001, and reportedly observed that "solution of internecine conflicts in the party will be the key to electoral victory in 2007".

Sheikh Hasina has apparently opted for a road for her son that Begum Khaleda Zia had chosen for her son, Tarique _ to initiate him into active politics a couple of years ago. Khaleda Zia, then Leader of the Opposition, assigned Mr Tarique the responsibility of leading the election machine for the 2001 elections.

After the electoral victory, Mr Tarique was made senior joint secretary general of the ruling BNP in June 2002. Presently, Mr Tarique is believed to have been consolidating his position in the party, despite the fact that there are senior leaders who are still unhappy over the development, though they are keeping mum about it for "technical reasons".

FATHER REBUKES SON: Hasina's husband, Dr Wajed Mian, a nuclear physicist, has publicly slammed Mr Sajib for his refusal to accept a letter from Khaleda Zia's son, Tarique Rahman, welcoming Sajib into politics.

Mr Tarique sent a letter to Mr Sajib, welcoming his "return" to Dhaka and the "possibility of joining politics" a few hours after the latter's arrival in the capital. "Our previous generation made the country independent.

Now we, the new generation, will have to work from our respective positions to make the independence meaningful," Mr Tarique's letter said, expressing "good wishes, on behalf of my wife Zobaida Rahman and myself, for you and your wife Kristine Over mire".

But Mr Tarique's envoy, a ruling BNP lawmaker, went through an unpleasant reception at Sudha Sadan, the residence of Sheikh Hasina where Sajib stayed during the visit.

Sheikh Hasina's staff members neither allowed the BNP legislator to enter the house nor did they receive Mr Tarique's letter. "Sajib has made a cardinal mistake in the beginning of his political career by refusing to accept Tarique's letter," Wajed Mian told a Dhaka-based Bengali-language daily on Dec 23. "He should not have done it."