Brahmanbaria-2 by-polls: AL's astute politics to elect Abdus Sattar
Ruling Awami League (AL) has devised "vicious" strategies to secure the victory of former BNP lawmaker Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan in the Brahmanbaria-2 (Sarail, Ashuganj) by-polls as an independent candidate, alleged local BNP.
Local AL leaders and activists are campaigning for Abdus Sattar, who was expelled from the BNP recently, they claimed.
However, local Awami League denied the allegation and said that some AL men are joining Abdus Sattar's campaign on personal grounds.
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Sources said the Awami League has never won in the constituency since the independence of the country. Now, they have initiated the tricky move to tighten their grip on the local politics there.
Moreover, the decision of the BNP to not participate in the election created discontent among local leaders of the party. The Awami League wanted to take advantage of the fact to further weaken their rivals.
There have been allegations that the AL has instigated four candidates to withdraw their nomination from the election which will be held on 1 February.
Among the eight valid candidates of the election, three independent candidates associated with the Awami League- Mahbubul Bari Chowdhury, joint general secretary of district Awami League, Brahmanbaria, Md Moin Uddin, former joint secretary, and Shahjahan Alam, Independence Teachers Association, withdrew their nomination as per the party decision.
On 18 January, Ziaul Haque Mridha, two times lawmaker of the Jatiya Party, also withdrew his nomination from the election. He said that he voluntarily withdrew from the election in consultation with the party's Chief Patron Rowshan Ershad.
Sources said that Ziaul Haque decided to withdraw from the election a day after he was summoned to Dhaka by his party.
Hafizur Rahman Mollah, former president of Brahmanbaria district BNP and current member of the convening committee, expressed his anger over the Awami League's tactics.
"The Awami League has forced other candidates including Ziaul Haque Mridha to withdraw from the election by threat and promising special favours," he told The Business Standard.
Before this, all BNP MPs including Abdus Sattar resigned from the National Parliament as per the party decision. A few days later, Abdus Sattar submitted his resignation as the BNP chairperson's adviser and collected nomination papers for Brahmanbaria-2 by-polls in defiance of the party decision. He was later expelled from the party.
The existing candidates in the Brahmanbaria-2 by-polls along with Abdus Sattar are Ashuganj upazila BNP former president Abu Asif Ahmed, Jatiya Party Central Committee Joint Secretary General Abdul Hamid Bhasani and Zaker Party's Zahirul Islam.
Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan, who is in his 80's, was elected lawmaker as a BNP candidate five times in his political career.
AL men campaigning for Abdus Sattar
On Thursday, some local leaders and activists of the Aruail union Awami League of Sarail were seen attending Abdus Sattar's rally at Paramanandapur village.
Abu Naser Ahmed, general secretary of Ashuganj upazila Awami League, told The Business Standard, "It is not true that the Awami League is working for Abdus Sattar. Some of our men joined his rally because of their personal relationship with him."
Abdus Sattar's son Mainul Hasan Tushar told TBS, "Earlier, only BNP people used to join the election campaign for my father as he was a member of the party. But now he is an independent candidate. As a result, many people are supporting him regardless of party affiliation. We welcome it."
Rumeen Farhana persona non grata in Ashuganj
Awami League leaders and activists on Friday declared former BNP lawmaker Rumeen Farhana persona non grata in Ashuganj upazila for allegedly asking BNP men to thwart Brahmanbaria-2 by-polls slated for 1 February.
