Il Nuovo Postiglione - Prime minister hopeful Tarique Rahman arrives in Bangladesh

Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and heir apparent of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), shook hands with party leaders after touching down at the Dhaka airport.

Accompanied by his wife and daughter, a visibly emotional Rahman took off his shoes, stood on the grass outside the airport and scooped up the soil as a mark of reverence.

He waved to supporters before ducking into a convoy under tight security, video posted by his party showed.

Since early Thursday, BNP backers started gathering in the capital, plastering the streets with banners and festoons bearing images of Rahman.

Patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers while cut-outs depicted the 60-year-old politician riding a stallion.

Alamgir Hossain, a BNP supporter, said the country was in a "dire situation" and that only Rahman "can fix it".

Rahman left Bangladesh for London in 2008 after what he has described as political persecution.

As acting chairman of the BNP, Rahman will lead the party through the February 12 general election, the first polls since ex-premier Sheikh Hasina's exit following a student-led uprising last year.

The BNP is widely seen as an election frontrunner, with Rahman expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.

Rahman's ailing mother, 80-year-old former leader Zia, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka.

Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in the upcoming elections.

- 'Symbol of hope' -

But she was hospitalised soon after making that pledge, and has been in intensive care ever since.

Rahman's return comes after recent unrest over the killing of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, a staunch India-critic who took part in last year's mass uprising.

Hadi, 32, was shot by masked assailants this month in Dhaka, and later died of his wounds at a Singapore hospital.

His death set off violent protests with mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India, as well as a prominent cultural institution.

Mobs also pelted stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where India has since suspended visa services.

Dhaka's diplomatic ties have worsened with its historical ally India, where Hasina has sought refuge since the uprising that ended her 15-year autocratic rule.

India says it is still considering Dhaka's requests to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.

Anti-India sentiments were stirred afresh in the majority Muslim nation after a Hindu garment worker was accused of blasphemy and lynched by a mob on December 18.

Jahan Panna, a former BNP lawmaker, said she hoped Rahman's return would end the "cycle of anarchy" prevailing in the country.

"Tarique Rahman is the symbol of hope for this country," Panna, 55, told AFP.

Rahman faced a slew of criminal cases but since Hasina's fall from power, he has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. He denied the charges.

In Britain, he kept a low profile but remained an outspoken figure on social media.

In June, he met in London with Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading the interim government until the February elections.

Hasina's Awami League party, a bitter rival of BNP, has been barred from contesting in the polls.

M.Dodaro--INP