Councils held yet leaders not elected
Conferences of 41 thana units out of 49 under Dhaka city unit Awami League were held after more than a decade, but the meetings could not pick the new thana leadership.
In every council session, party men of the respective thanas had high hopes of getting new leadership. But they were frustrated that no election was held in the meetings to pick new leaders, pointing to lack of democracy within the party.
AL sources said elections were not held at the thana level as per the directives of city AL leaders. After completion of all the thana councils, AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will announce the committees as the councillors have given her the responsibility.
Councils of the thana units started in September last year. Councils of the rest of the eight thanas will be held within this month. The ruling party last time held councils at the thana level in the capital in 2003.
Thana units of the AL organised the council sessions with much enthusiasm. Leaders, activists and supporters came, listened to speeches, had lunch, and enjoyed music, but the main objective of the meetings, election of new leaders, was not achieved.
“We organised the council session, but dropped the voting part as per directives of city leaders,” president of a thana unit AL told The Daily Star, wishing anonymity.
If the thana-level leaders were elected through voting, the city leaders could not pick their favourites for the thana committees, he added.
According to the AL constitution, a tri-annual conference should be held with the 21 elected councillors of each unions/ wards and 15 co-opted councillors. These councillors would elect the new committee of a thana unit.
Instead of holding election, the city unit AL set preconditions for being picked as future leaders. Speaking at council sessions, city AL General Secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said those who had a good role during 1/11, have acceptability among people and are ready to make sacrifice for the party would be made the next leaders of thana units.
MA Aziz, acting president of city AL, told this newspaper that after completing the councils of all the thanas in the city, they would initiate a process of announcing the thana committees through intra-party discussions and consultations with party chief Sheikh Hasina.
The city AL had held its last council on December 27, 2012, but no committee has been announced yet. No voting was held in the council to elect the new leadership.
The city and thana-level leaders are in the dark about when Sheikh Hasina would announce the names of the new leaders.
Thana units, which have already completed councils, have sent lists of potential future leaders to the city AL office.
However, local lawmakers sent separate lists of presidents and general secretaries as they want the men loyal to them to be the next leaders of the thana units.
Karful thana AL president Jamal Mostofa said he and the local MP Kamal Ahmed Majumder sent separate lists to city AL. The next leaders were not picked through voting as per the wish of the lawmaker, he added.
Sources said many thana unit leaders were vying for posts in the city unit. Some of them are presidents of Mohammadpur thana unit Sadek Khan, Ramna thana unit Abul Basher, Sutrapur thana unit Abu Ahmed and Mirpur thana unit Delowar Hossain.
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