AL leaders thrash it out in front of party chief

by Abu Hayat Mahmud in Dhaka Tribune, May 21, 2017
Grassroots leaders of the ruling Awami League complained to the party chief Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP men had infiltrated into the party and lashed out at their fellows and local lawmakers on the issue, in a meeting at Gonobhaban yesterday.
The Awami League’s top brass including General Secretary Obaidul Quader attended the meeting with President Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The grassroots leaders also informed Hasina of clashes and internal feuds among local leaders, lawmakers and associate bodies.
Some media outlets earlier reported several thousand activists of Jamaat and BNP joined the Awami League following the 2014 general polls, and clashes between rival factions turned a common phenomenon.
Seeking anonymity, a lawmaker in Faridpur accused editor of a local newspaper Md Haque, who is also known as a pro-Awami League journalist, former Bangladesh Chhatra League leader Tipu Munshi and Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad leader Prof Dr Iqbal Arslan of collaborating with Jamaat and BNP men in trying hard to defeat Rajbari-2 lawmaker Zillul Hakim in the next election.
Awami League men are feuding with one another not only in Rajbari, but also across the country, he added.
Some of the district leaders also expressed dissatisfaction over remarks made by General Secretary Obaidul Quader, who recently said in a meeting that “activists and leaders of the Awami League will have to flee the country if the party loses the next polls.”
Moslem Uddin Ahmed, president of the Chittagong south district unit Awami League, castigated their local lawmaker for barring him from forming a law and order committee of a police station in the district.
“We are unhappy with upsetting remarks of some central leaders. Such remarks need to stop,” he added.
Echoing Moslem, Rangpur Awami League General Secretary Rezaul Karim Raju said: “Leaders at the local level were very upset at hearing such remarks from the general secretary.
“I have little idea about forming committees of the associate bodies. Taking advantage of this, some Jamaat and BNP men have infiltrated into the Awami league.”
Khulna district Awami League President Harun-ur-Rashid said: “We observed that few rival candidates contested in previously held elections, with haughty disregard for the party’s rules and directives.
He urged Hasina to take stern action against such errant leaders and activists.
Omar Faruk, president of Rajshai district unit, Abul Hasnat Abdullah of Barishal unit and Johirul Haque Khoka of Mymenshingh unit, too, urged her to take immediate action to stop the prevailing factional clashes and punish those who break the party’s discipline.
Listening to them, Hasina instructed the leaders to check the infiltration of Jamaat and BNP and work together to win the polls.
The party chief in her speech asked them to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots and highlight the country’s socio-economic progress made during the Awami League’s tenure.
Slamming BNP for “counterfeiting” the Awami League’s vision, she said: “BNP’s Vision-2030 is a trick, and their ultimate goal is to go to power and amass wealth illegally.”
She handed over laptops to representatives from eight divisional party offices and unveiled the party’s constitution and declaration in the programme. www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/politics/2017/05/21/al-leaders-thrash-front-party-chief/