The July uprising activists are considering increasing the number of top posts in their political party to ensure the representation of all the stakeholders of the movement amid a discord over leadership.

The new party, likely to be launched at a rally on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital on February 26, will have 10 or 12 major positions. These include convener, member secretary, joint conveners, chief organiser, and spokesperson.

The uprising activists are now mulling the creation of new positions like senior joint convener, senior joint member secretary and two spokesperson posts to "accommodate" all quarters involved in the uprising, said sources in the Jatiya Nagorik Committee and the Students Against Discrimination.

Different factions placed several proposals during last Wednesday's meeting, including on the top leadership structure of the party, two Nagorik Committee leaders told this newspaper.

Some proposed creating a super-ten or super-twelve style top structure. The matter has not been finalised yet, according to the leaders.

Sources in the two platforms said that there was consensus among all from the beginning regarding Information Adviser Nahid Islam taking on the post of convener. He is likely to resign on February 25 from the adviser role to join the new party.

However, there were differences of opinion primarily over who would assume the role of member secretary.

The Jatiya Nagorik Committee, the citizens' platform launched after the uprising, split into three groups over the top posts of the new political party's convening committee, said insiders.

One consists of leaders of Students Against Discrimination who had been previously involved in Ganatantrik Chhatra Shakti and Chhatra Odhikar Parishad.

Those previously affiliated with leftist politics form the second faction and the third comprises former members of Islami Chhatra Shibir, at least three leaders of the civic platform had previously told this newspaper, requesting to be anonymous.

Although the discord among the groups of student leaders over the new party's member secretary post has waned, it is yet to be completely resolved.

Ali Ahsan Zonaed, former president of Shibir's Dhaka University unit and a member of Nagorik Committee's executive council, denied a report by a Bangla daily that he had some understanding with former Shibir leaders over the top positions of the new party. "It is not true," he wrote on Facebook.

He, however, criticised the way the leadership of the new party is being formed as "neither democratic nor inclusive".

"In this context, discussions about who holds which position are irrelevant. So, we have been emphasising that any qualified person should be able to take up their desired position. We are discussing the criteria for determining this qualification. Resolving this issue is now our primary and main objective," wrote Zonaed.

Requesting to be unnamed, two leaders of the Nagorik Committee told this newspaper that there are some "differences of opinion" regarding the top leadership.

"There may be some issues, but it is a healthy competition, not a split. We are hopeful about resolving the issues before the announcement of the party and making the announcement on time," a leader of the Nagorik Committee told The Daily Star.