'Sharing the bounty'
Awami League leaders in Chattogram are embarrassed following a video footage that went viral on social media recently, where the AL lawmaker from Chattogram-15 constituency was seen assuring party activists of a “slice of the cake” if he is re-elected.
Abu Reza Mohammad Nizamuddin Nadwi, an Awami League candidate from Satkania-Lohagara constituency, at a discussion at his upazila (Satkania) on Saturday had said, “If I get elected this time, we will all share the bounty.”
Mofizur Rahman, general secretary of Chattogram district AL (south), told The Daily Star that they had felt embarrassed after hearing the speech. “Nadwi acknowledged to me that he made a mistake by saying such things,” he claimed.
In the footage, Nadwi was also seen saying: “When leaders asked me to give them money, I complied instantly. I gave money to Moslem Uddin (president of the district AL south unit), Kutub Uddin (general secretary of Satkania upazila unit AL) and Khorshed Alam (president of Lohagara upazila unit AL).”
All the leaders were present at the meeting.
Contacted yesterday, Nadwi said, “What I wanted to mean was to disburse allocated funds equally, if I get elected once again.” He also claimed to have mitigated the party division within his constituency.
He blamed the anti-liberation forces, particularly Jamaat, for spreading the video and making it viral. “My foundation has been engaged in charity works for decades. Why will I need to misappropriate anything?”
When asked, Moslem Uddin said he did not hear Nadwi saying anything like that.
“Whenever I asked him [Nadwi] to spend money for the party, he did it wholeheartedly,” he said.
He alleged that many “good things” were said during the meeting that did not get journalists' attention.
Kutub Uddin, who moderated the meeting, said it was a slip of tongue. Later, Nadwi corrected his remark, he added.
Khorshed Alam denied taking money from Nadwi and said the lawmaker is not a good speaker, which resulted in such an incident. “His words did not reflect what he wanted to say,” he added.
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