After 26 years in self-exile, Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of Bangladesh’s main opposition party and son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia , has declared that his return home is imminent.

"For some reasonable reasons my return has not happened... but the time has come, and I will return soon," Rahman said in an interview with BBC Bangla on Monday, confirming he plans to contest the February general election.

The 58-year-old de facto chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said, "I am running in the election (as well)."

When asked if he intends to become prime minister should his party form the next government, Rahman said: "The people will decide."

Rahman was sent to London in 2008 by the then army-backed caretaker government for medical treatment as he faced several gr

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