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Khaleda's son

DHAKA: The elder son of former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia has made his first political debut in the capital but under another name, newspapers said on Wednesday.

"Vote for my mother to protect conspiracy against development," Tareq Zia, originally known as Tareq Rahman, told a rally Tuesday of Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

He was introduced with the changed name at the rally and the step is believed to link his name to that of his mother and slain father, former president Ziaur Rahman.

Tareq, who called BNP supporters "my party workers," made his first major appearance in southeastern Chittagong city last week during a similar party rally.

He is a wealthy businessman and is married. He has one daughter.-APP