DHAKA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Hundreds of backers of the ousted secretary-general of the Bangladesh Nationalist party attended a rally in Dhaka on Saturday, underlining a deep split in the party that had ruled the country until the end of last year.

Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan was expelled on September 3 by party leader and former prime minister Begum Khaled Zia, who accused him and his deputy, Ashraf Hussein, of campaigning to reform the party and drastically curb her powers.

Hours later Khaleda was herself arrested on charges of corruption and abuse of power.

Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since an army-backed interim government took control in January after months of political violence with a pledge to root out corruption and hold credible elections by the end of next year.

Bhuiyan led some 300 reformist supporters, some carrying portraits of former president Ziaur Rahman, in the rally at a convention centre -- the first meeting of BNP members since a government ban on indoor political meetings was lifted on Monday.

"We are the real BNP and we have support of the majority of leaders and workers of the party," Bhuiyan told the crowd. "We are the followers of Zia, who wanted to establish true democracy in the party and the country."

After expelling Bhuiyan and Hossain, Khaleda appointed former party chief whip Khodakar Delwar Hossain, as BNP secretary-general.

Delwar Hossain said the meeting convened by Bhuiyan was illegal, "because such a meeting can only be convened by the party chief (Khaleda)."

The BNP and the Awami League of another former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, are the two major parties that have swapped power since 1991.

Hasina has been in detention since July and is to be tried on charges of graft connected to the purchase of military planes from Russia eight years ago.

Khaleda, widow of the late president Zia, ended her term as premier last October. Critics blamed her for establishing a cult of family by appointing close relatives to senior party posts and giving her sister a place in her cabinet.

More than 170 political figures, including ministers and lawmakers from both the governments and parties of Khaleda and Hasina, have been detained as the interim government cracks down on corruption.

The drive for party reform gathered pace after the interim government called on leaders of both parties to practise democracy within their formations.

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