Shahabuddin to quit anytime

President Mohammed Shahabuddin is poised to tender his resignation as soon as Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad returns from Thailand, multiple sources said on Thursday, though neither Bangabhaban nor the government has officially confirmed the move.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed acknowledged that the constitution permits a president to step down, but insisted the government had taken no initiative and possessed no official word of any such plan. 
"We will have to wait until tomorrow (Friday) for an update regarding the possible resignation of the president," he later told reporters.
Under the constitution, the president must formally submit his resignation to the speaker, who left for Thailand on 19 July for medical treatment and was originally due back on Sunday. 
Government officials, however, said Ahmad may cut short his trip and return sooner given the fast-moving political situation.
Akbar Hossen, assistant personal secretary to the speaker, told the Daily Sun, "Sir will return home tomorrow (Friday). But the exact time could not be known immediately." 
He added that Ahmad's treatment had already been completed, allowing him to come back ahead of schedule. A separate source at the speaker's parliamentary office said Ahmad is booked on a Thai Airways flight out of Bangkok at around 12.40pm on Friday.
According to a Bangabhaban source, Shahabuddin is expected to step down nearly two years before completing his five-year term, citing either health or political grounds. 
The resignation is understood to stem from mounting government displeasure and political strain following an alleged telephone call between the president and deposed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, reportedly concerning her plans to return to Bangladesh.
Shahabuddin, who has remained in post since the student-led mass uprising of 2024, is the last constitutional office-holder from the former Awami League administration still serving. 
Tensions have sharpened further since Hasina announced her intention to return home from India by December 2026.
Sources within the government and the ruling BNP told the Daily Sun that the party's high command has already communicated to Shahabuddin that he should resign, while discussions on a potential successor are already under way. 
A secretary currently holding a senior government post on a contractual basis has emerged as one contender, though several senior BNP figures are also being weighed, among them Standing Committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain MP, Abdul Moyeen Khan MP and Nazrul Islam Khan, alongside BNP Secretary-General and LGRD Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Joint Secretary-General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
A member of the BNP's National Standing Committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that apart from Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, no one in the party or government knows who the next president will be. 
"It is his (the PM's) own decision and own choice," the leader said.
Should Shahabuddin resign, the speaker will assume presidential duties temporarily, as mandated by the constitution, with parliament required to elect a new president within 90 days. 
Because the next general election will fall during the incoming president's tenure, the choice of successor carries added political weight.
Shahabuddin was sworn in as Bangladesh's 22nd president on 24 April 2023, elected unopposed on the Awami League's nomination, with his term originally set to run until April 2028. 
The political landscape shifted dramatically after Hasina resigned and fled the country during the uprising of 5 August 2024, with Shahabuddin overseeing critical transitional moments, including parliament's dissolution and the formation of an interim government.
Students had demanded his removal soon after the uprising, including a siege of Bangabhaban, but the interim administration under Professor Muhammad Yunus took no action against him. 
The BNP, which took office following the 13th parliamentary election on 12 February 2026, likewise refrained from moving against him despite his Awami League-era appointment.
Since the change of government, speculation over Shahabuddin's future has persisted, though neither the BNP nor the administration had publicly called for his exit until now. Students at Dhaka University have separately demanded his arrest, branding him an agent of the former "fascist" Awami League government, with activists under the banner of Mancha 24 staging a hunger strike at the Raju Sculpture in support of that demand.