Dhaka - The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies announced nationwide protests against the detention of three former ministers in a graft case, saying it was a ploy to keep the alliance out of the December elections, media reports said Tuesday.

The party's right-wing ally - Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamic party - said in a statement that it was starting five days of protests Tuesday to demand the immediate release of two of its party officials, Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.

The two top Jamaat leaders and former BNP finance minister M Saifur Rahman, who served as ministers in then-prime minister Khaleda Zia's cabinet from 2001 to 2006, were detained as they appeared before a court Monday in a corruption case related to a coal-mine contract.

The BNP-led alliance, which has yet to clarify its position over contesting the December polls, plans nationwide demonstrations Wednesday to denounce the arrests and push a list of demands, including the withdrawal of a state of emergency before the elections, slated for December 18.

BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, after an emergency meeting of alliance leaders chaired by Zia late Monday, accused the military-backed interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed of making arrangements to bring a "certain quarter" to power.

"The arrest of the senior alliance leaders indicates that the government wants to keep the alliance out of the election race," he said, asking the government to refrain from hatching a conspiracy.

Leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat parties on Monday staged rallies and marched down streets across the country to protest the court's decision.

Jamaat's assistant secretary general, Muhammad Quamaruzzaman, announced non-stop demonstrations and protest rallies across the country from Tuesday to Thursday. The party said it would also organize prayers and protests Friday.

The detained former ministers were accused of ignoring lower bids and awarding a contract to a foreign firm to develop a coal mine in northern Bangladesh. Zia is also accused in the case. (dpa)