Dhaka, Jan. 21 -- When Tarique Rahman last graced the Sylhet District BNP workers' conference 22 years ago, he did so in his capacity as the party's joint secretary general.

In those years, it was customary for his mother, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, to launch the party's national election campaign by offering prayers at the shrines of Hazrat Shahjalal and Hazrat Shahparan.

Emulating this mother's legacy, Tarique is poised to inaugurate the electoral proceedings for the parliamentary polls on Wednesday.

This move carries profound symbolic weight, coming merely days after his formal ascension to the mantle of party chairman.

His arrival marks a momentous turning point for a leader who endured 17 years of self-imposed exile in Lo...