Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to the interim government in Bangladesh, is not stepping down.

“The chief adviser is not stepping down. The chief adviser never said he will resign. The other advisers too will remain in their positions. We are here to fulfil the responsibility that was handed to us,” Wahiduddin Mahmud, the planning adviser in the interim government, told the media in Dhaka on Saturday.

Under pressure from Bangladesh’s political parties and the army to hold national elections and rising discontent amongst a vast section of the populace, Yunus had reportedly expressed his desire to step down.

Amidst the uncertainty over the future of the interim government, Yunus’ perceived reluctance to remain in the hot seat, and the heat from parties like the BNP, the advisory council held a closed door meeting which began impromptu after a meeting of the executive committee of the national economic council (Ecnec) at the Bangladesh Planning Commission office held this morning.

According to sources in Dhaka, after the meeting of the national economic council, government officials other than the advisers were instructed to leave the room.

The meeting with the advisers started around 12.20 pm and continued for nearly two hours.

Yunus will meet the representatives of the BNP later this evening. The BNP, which is the largest political party in Bangladesh since the Awami League was banned earlier this month, has been insisting on early elections in the country.

Earlier this week the BNP general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had accused the Yunus administration of deliberately delaying the national polls.

“An extremely well-planned conspiracy is on to delay holding of elections. Some people have infiltrated the administration and are trying to take the country to a different direction,” Alamgir said at an event held to commemorate the death anniversary of BNP founder Gen Ziaur Rahman.