Leaders meet Abbas to calm him
A group of BNP leaders of the new Dhaka city committee yesterday met its convener Mirza Abbas in his residence to assuage his discontent over the formation of the committee, and to persuade him to get going with the party activities immediately.
Led by Abdul Awal Mintoo, joint convener of the recently declared committee, the leaders held a three-hour long meeting with Abbas in his Shajahanpur residence of the capital, party sources said.
It has been decided that Abbas will host an iftar party within a day or two in the capital in honour of all members of the new committee, and discuss the party's next course of action, sources present in the meeting told The Daily Star.
Abbas, a member of the party's standing committee, got displeased, as over 20 leaders including member-secretary Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel were included in the new committee without consulting him.
On advice of Khaleda Zia and approval of BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the 56-member Dhaka City unit of BNP was declared through a press conference Friday night.
Utterly disappointed over the failure of Sadeque Hossain Khoka-Abdus Salam committee to wage anti-government movement in the capital last year, Khaleda on February 10 announced that she would disband the party's Dhaka city unit and announce a new one. But it took her over five months due to internal conflict and grouping inside the party.
Party sources said Abbas did not like Sohel's inclusion as member-secretary in the new committee. Instead, the former mayor of Dhaka lobbied for MA Quaium as his running mate.
Abbas replaced Khoka while Sohel replaced Salam. But both Khoka and Salam were made advisers in the new committee.
Khoka's inclusion in the new committee has also annoyed Abbas as conflict and grouping have been prevailing between the duo for long. Conflict between Abbas and Khoka was also a major reason for Khaleda's delay in announcing the committee, said the party sources.
A joint convener of the new committee said, “On advice of Abbas, Khaleda Zia agreed to approve a 31-member committee. But at the last moment, some BNP leaders including Fakhrul persuaded her to include Sohel and around 20 other leaders, mostly loyal to Khoka, in the committee which has irked Abbas.”
Party insiders said three BNP leaders Khairul Kabir Khokon, Mohammad Shahjahan and Abdus Salam Azad were excluded from the final list of the new committee ignoring Abbas's request for retaining them, which also displeased him.
Disappointed Abbas did not meet any BNP leaders and even the media on Saturday.
Apart from Abbas, BNP standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Mia, Abdul Awal Mintoo, Abul Khair Bhuiyan, Moazzem Hossain Alal, Abu Sayeed Khan Khokon, MA Quaium, among others, also got displeased for their posts in the new committee, party insiders said.
Wishing anonymity, a senior BNP leader said it would have been more prestigious for him if he was made just a member instead of a joint convener in the committee.
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