Grassroots rivalries come to the fore

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Divisions within the major political parties including Awami League (AL) and BNP seem growing with the local ranks vying for nominations to contest the August 4 polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities.

Alongside intra-party disputes, rivalry between prospective candidates within alliances too is obvious. In four divisional headquarters, AL and BNP leaders seeking nomination for mayoral elections brace themselves for challenges coming from components of the 14-party and four-party alliances.

In Rajshahi, dispute between the Workers Party politburo member Fazle Hossain Badsha and city AL General Secretary AHM Khairuzzaman Liton for mayor nomination has already grown intense.

As many as eight candidates in BNP have begun informal election campaign for the mayoral post. Of them, party insiders said, Central Office Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi who has long been working for the mayoral fray has a better chance.

In Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal, Jamaat-e-Islami leaders are going to mount serious challenges to BNP candidates seeking alliance nominations.

In Sylhet, several candidates from both AL and BNP have been claiming themselves to be the party nominees.

In Khulna, both AL and BNP leaders have refrained from announcing their mayoral aspiration. While those in AL are waiting for decisions from the high command, their counterparts in BNP are fearful of disciplinary action in the event of participation in the polls.

Some leaders from divisional units of BNP and AL have told The Daily Star that the central committees should step in to quell the rising discontent within the parties.

Both AL and BNP policymakers have yet to decide whether to take part in the local elections. Most of their grassroots leaders however are in favour of contesting the polls. Some of them are even ready to run for the polls as independent candidates in case their organisations opt out.

Sources said the parties might finally take part in the election from the strategic point of view that if the rivals go to polls and they do not, then they will fall behind.

AL sources said the party has already given its grassroots level leaders the signal to prepare for the polls.

AL Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed yesterday told reporters that he hopes the party workers would accept whatever the working committee would decide regarding the local elections.

He said AL is always ready for election, but no election would be acceptable to people if held amid the state of emergency.

“The elections should be held after the withdrawal of the state of emergency,” he added.

AL acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said his party is prepared for elections and would decide whether to take part in upcoming polls at its presidium and central working committee (ALCWC) meetings. The ALCWC is scheduled to meet on June 26.

He was speaking to reporters after laying wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Bangabandhu Memorial Building in Dhanmondi on the party’s 59th founding anniversary.

RAJSHAHI
“If the four-party coalition takes part in the polls, I will be their candidate,” said Rajshahi city Jamaat Ameer Ataur Rahman, adding that he was leading the local alliance in former mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu’s absence.

Besides Rizvi, Rajshahi city Jubo Dal President Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul, BNP leaders Enamul Haque, Quamrul Monir, Alauddin, Jahan Panna, Shahid Hasan and Shahin Shawkat want to compete for the mayor post.

Jamaat believes its leaders Abul Kalam Azad and Siddik Hussain too are in contention for nomination.

Meanwhile, 82 people including six for the mayoral post collected application forms for candidacy from Rajshahi deputy election commissioner’s office on the first day of form distributions yesterday, adds our Rajshahi correspondent.

KHULNA
Khulna City AL President Talukder Abdul Khaleque said they are mentally prepared to participate in the KCC election.

Member-Secretary of Khulna city BNP convening committee Shaharuzzaman Martuza said anyone who would file nominations defying the party decision would face disciplinary actions, reports our Khulna correspondent.

BARISAL
Aspirant AL and BNP Barisal City Corporation mayor candidates are running election campaigns secretly, by not telling other leaders of the party about it, since their parties are yet to decide on what to do.

However, mid-level leaders of the parties are campaigning openly to become the mayor. Many of them are saying that they would run for office as an independent candidate to bypass whatever the party decides about the polls.

At least 10 candidates of AL are running campaigns openly for the post of Barisal City Corporation mayor, our Barisal correspondent reports.

Leaders of the AL and its allies held a closed-door meeting Sunday night to finalise the candidature, but they failed, sources said.

Sources said President of Barisal Nagorik Parishad Enayet Pir Khan, backed by the AL in the last Barisal City Corporation election, and District AL Convenor Sawkat Hossain Hiron made strong cases for their candidatures resulting in a dispute.

Rejaul Haque Harun, Monirul Islam Khan, Syed Anisur Rahman, Alamgir Hossain Alo, Shamssuddin Ahmed Khan, Moshiur Rahman Khan, Syed Golam Mashud Bablu and Masudul Haque Khan are the other aspirant candidates.

Strong internal dispute within BNP prevails over who would run for the post of mayor since Mayor Mujibur Rahman Sarwar is in detention.

Abaidul Haque Chan, Ahsan Habib Kamal, Sakhawat Hossain Jumman, Mohsin Montu, Abdur Rahman Tapon and Ataharul Islam Chowdhury Babul are also running campaigns.

Chan claimed that he is running for office as his party leaders mounted pressure on him to do so.

Jamaat-e-Islami Barisal city unit Ameer Moazzem Hossain Helal is also campaigning to become the mayor.

SYLHET
Former Sylhet district BNP chief MA Haque, beaten in the 2003 election by city AL chief Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, and BNP city unit Secretary Nasim Hossain are running campaigns to become mayor for sometime now, reports our Sylhet correspondent.

AFM Kamal, expelled from BNP after failing to get the party go ahead in 2003 election and contesting as an independent candidate, may also run this time.

Shafiqur Rahman, former city Jamaat chief, said his party has selected him for the candidature but the four-party alliance is yet to decide on the issue.

Meanwhile, Sylhet city AL General Secretary Misbah Uddin Siraj and Joint Secretary Ashfaque Ahmed are also aspirants of the mayor post. However, AL leader and ex-municipality chairman Babul Hossain claimed that he has clearance from the party high-ups for his run for office.

Interestingly, sources in the AL central say that the AL has plans to extend its support for Kamran, now detained but not convicted.

As many as 67 people, including six people wishing to compete for the post of mayor, registered their names with the Sylhet office of Deputy Election Commissioner and collected nomination forms on the first day yesterday, reports our Sylhet staff correspondent.

The six running for the post of mayor are: former senior vice-president of district AL Abduj Jahir Chowdhury Sufian, incumbent ward commissioner and city BNP Vice-president Abdul Quaiyum Jalali Ponki, district Jatiya Party (JP) chief Kunu Miah and city JP Vice-president Abdus Samad Nazrul, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish city unit General Secretary Maulana Sirajul Islam and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) leader Syed Ali Afsar Zahed.

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