Riddled with rift

Rifts within the Awami League and the BNP have been a major concern for the parties' mayoral election nominees in Sylhet, Rajshahi and Barisal cities.

Leaders of the parties, who have been trying to resolve the intra-party spats, said the issue could play a decisive role in the city corporation polls slated for July 30.

In Sylhet, divide within the parties has created a crisis for AL mayoral nominee Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran and his BNP counterpart Ariful Huq Chowdhury.

Ariful has been able to convince his party colleague Badruzzaman Selim to quit the race. But Badruzzaman has not joined Ariful's campaign yet, BNP activists and leaders said.

In the AL camp, four key leaders, including Sylhet AL Organising Secretary Misbah Uddin Siraj and Vice-President Ashfaque Ahmed, have not been seen on the campaign trail, said insiders.

Shafiul Alam Nadel, another organising secretary of Sylhet AL, has left the country with an excuse, claimed AL activists, requesting anonymity.

Many local activists wanted Asad Uddin Ahmed, general secretary of the Sylhet AL, to be the mayor. But the party nominated Kamran.

Although Asad is now a member secretary of Kamran's campaign management committee, many of his supporters are yet to show up for campaign work.

“All the leaders are united. Some say that a number of leaders are inactive, but we believe that they will join the campaign soon,” Asad told The Daily Star.

Misbah could not be reached for comments, while Ashfaque declined to comment.

In the BNP tent, central unit Assistant Swechchhasebak Secretary Shamsuzzaman, has declared that he would work against Ariful.

Nevertheless, Ali Ahmed, general secretary of Sylhet BNP, said, “The party has already solved all the major internal problems.”

He, however, said there were some small issues but those would not threaten Ariful's win.

In Rajshahi, BNP mayoral nominee Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul is counting on central leaders to keep the local ones united.

BNP Standing Committee Member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy has been in Rajshahi for over a week trying to unite local activists. He held a series of meetings with party leaders and made them participate in Bulbul's campaign programmes.

Former Rajshahi mayor Mizanur Rahman Minu and former lawmaker Nadim Mostafa are working for Bulbul.

But much to the embarrassment of local BNP, Ward Councillor Monir Hossain had announced his support for AL nominee Liton on Friday evening.

“I am involved with the BNP, but I am supporting Liton for the sake of the city's development,” he told reporters at his office with Liton beside him on Friday.

Amid widespread criticism by his party colleagues, he told The Daily Star yesterday, “How can you avoid supporting a powerful ruling party leader, when he comes to you seeking support?”

Bulbul said, “Many BNP grassroots leaders are not supporting me openly fearing the police and ruling party leaders. But they are all with me.”

Although Rajshahi AL has no apparent divisions, its top leaders have hardly made appearances on Liton's campaign trail, locals said.

As Liton visits neighbourhoods asking for votes, only the lower tier leaders accompany him.

“Election campaigns are a chance to get closer to the grassroots. We are campaigning together and sharing our political ideas,” Liton told The Daily Star last week.

He added that he had asked his party leaders and family members to garner support for him in different areas. “We are covering more areas at a time this way.”

However, an AL insider said, Liton adopted the strategy of campaigning alone to avoid being seen with controversial leaders and face criticisms.

“Awami League is an old party and it has different kinds of people, including some who are involved in corruption and land grabbing. Liton's intention is to avoid them,” the insider said.

Many of Liton's supporters said local AL Secretary General Dablu Sarker was not in Liton's favour. Dablu refuted the allegation.

In Barisal, AL leader Col (retd) Zahid Hossain Faruk wanted to be the nominee, but the party ticket went to Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah.

Zahid has hit Sadik's campaign trail, but his followers have not, said locals.

“We are keeping quiet as our leader was not nominated, but we are not against our party candidate,” said a Chhatra League leader of the city, seeking anonymity.

“Some of us went to join Sadiq's campaign, but he refused to accept us.”

Barisal AL President Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal said, “We had some conflicts among some leaders of the party at the beginning of the campaign, but now we have strong unity.”

He added that the allegations of rifts were just rumours.

Meanwhile, the BNP brought trouble in by choosing Mujibur Rahman Sarwar, a former mayor and MP, said locals.

Three other BNP leaders, who desired the ticket, are Barisal (south) BNP President Obaidul Haque Chan, BNP central organising secretary Shirin Aktar and the incumbent Mayor Ahasan Habib Kamal.

“I wanted the nomination but the party decided that Srwar is qualified; I am working for his win tirelessly,” said Shirin Aktar, adding that the party was united.

Mayor Kamal said, “I have strong support for our candidate, but I cannot work for him because of the electoral code.”

Both the AL and BNP nominees have been telling locals that their parties were united.