Intra-party feud behind Dinajpur AL's debacle

Mayoral candidates of ruling Awami League won only one out of five posts in Dinajpur, Birganj, Birampur, Hakimpur and Phulbari municipalities.

The incumbent mayors who contested the polls in Dinajpur, Phulbari and Birampur were re-elected, while rebel AL candidate in Birampur and the ruling party nominated candidate in Hakimpur won the race.

Party insiders said AL candidates would have won if there was no intra-party feud.

 Seeking anonymity, a top leader of Dinajpur AL said Anwarul Islam switched to AL and got the blessings of Iqbalur Rahim, a lawmaker of Dinajpur Sadar. But many party leaders and workers dislike Anwar, hence BNP backed candidate got the opportunity to defeat him.

In Birganj, Maulana Hanif contested the election with jug symbol and defeated the AL candidate due to the intra-party feud of AL in the upazila. Monoranjanshil Gopal is the lawmaker of the constituency.

In Phulbari, Golam Mortuna Sarker Manik, an independent candidate was elected defeating AL nominated Shajahan Ali Sarker Putu. Mostafizur Rahman Minister for Primary and Mass Education, and also president of Dinajpur district AL, failed to resolve the dispute within the party in his area.

Khaza Moinuddin, younger brother of the minister and also president of Phulbari upazila AL, contested the mayoral polls as a rebel AL candidate. He got 299 votes, said locals.

In Birampur upazila, Liakat Ali Sarker got support of local lawmaker Shibli Sadique. Akkas Ali, who contested the election with boat symbol, lost the race. He told this correspondent that he lost due to the internal feud.

Talking with local journalists, the minister said those who contested the election as rebels have no identity.

This correspondent could not reach the minister for his comment after the election as his cellphone was off.

In Hakimpur, Jamil Hossain Chalanta of AL got 8,989 votes while Shakhawat Hossain Shilpi of BNP secured 4,912.

In Birampur, Liakat Ali Sarker, an AL rebel, got 9,763 votes, while AL nominated candidate Akkas Ali got 9,023.

In Birganj, Maulana Hanif of Jamaat, contested as an independent candidate and secured 4,500 votes, while AL nominated candidate Mosaraf Hossain Babul got 3,848.

In Dinajpur, Syed Jahangir Alam of BNP secured 39,587 votes while Anwarul Islam, an AL candidate, got 24,534.

In Phulbari, Golam Mortuza Sarker Manik (independent) got 6,433 votes and Shajahan Ali Sarker Putu of AL secured 4,791 votes.