Bangladeshi heavyweight politician Tarique Rahman said Monday (October 6, 2025) he would return "soon" after 17 years in self-imposed exile to contest the first elections since a 2024 mass uprising.
Rahman, 59, heir to Bangladesh's longtime ruling family as son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), widely seen as a key frontrunner in the upcoming polls.
"For some reasonable reasons my return hasn't happened... but the time has come, and I will return soon, God willing," Rahman told BBC Bangla in an interview broadcast Monday (October 6).
The elections, due in February 2026, will be the first since a mass uprising ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year, ending her 15-year hardline rule — during which she crushed the BNP.
Mr. Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, has lived in London since 2008, saying he fled politically-motivated persecution.
