Discord in AL over mayor candidate

Intra-party discord over candidacy for the post of Dhaka City Corporation mayor has surfaced with the Awami League (AL) making all out preparations for contesting the DCC polls scheduled for March-April next year.
The AL is now gearing up organisational activities of its city unit, and it wants party leaders and workers to get involved and cooperate in the ongoing voter listing process as part of its preparations for the DCC polls.
The Election Commission (EC) is scheduled to distribute voter registration form in the capital from next week.
Against this backdrop, the AL leadership yesterday sat with city unit leaders at detained party President Sheikh Hasina's office at Dhanmondi to reactivate the eight constituency-based party committees in the capital and to give necessary guidelines and directives ahead of the DCC polls. The AL chief had formed the committees before the stalled January 22 general election.
Although the party has not yet finalised its decision to participate in the DCC polls, names of some leaders including AL organising secretaries Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Mahmudur Rahman Manna, central leader Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin and expelled leader Mozaffar Hossain Paltu are being discussed widely as possible candidates for the post of mayor.
Highly placed sources in the AL said party high-ups already discussed among themselves selection of party candidate for mayor. They want Saber as candidate since he has good personal and political image, dynamism and wide acceptability among the city people as well as party men.
On the other hand, a section of party leaders mostly loyal to AL Presidium Member Amir Hossain Amu are planning to get Dr Jalal nominated to prevent Saber, who is political secretary to the detained party chief. But, as he does not have that much acceptability among the city residents, many of the leaders want to see Manna, a former popular student leader, as mayor candidate.
Since Paltu was expelled from the AL for his controversial role in the 2001 parliamentary election, party leaders at no level are considering him as mayor candidate although he has long been lobbying with Amu loyalist leaders to get party ticket.
As all the AL candidates from the eight city constituencies in the 2001 elections, except Saber, have either been absconding or arrested, the AL high-ups are considering Saber as the most competent person to win the post of mayor.
Talking to The Daily Star, many of the city AL leaders said they do not want such a leader as mayor candidate, who would hold top position in city AL and make the DCC headquarters an alternative party office.
Asked who would be the best candidate, a senior city AL leader preferring not to be named said, "We think there is no alternative to Saber Chowdhury as there are no competent candidates also in other parties."
Sources said the newly formed Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) leader Sayeed Khokon, who met Zillur Rahman for the first time after he joined the PDP, is trying to come back to AL to get party ticket for mayoral election.
Asked whether he will return to the AL, Khokon, a former organising secretary of the party's city unit, said, "I feel I'm a member of the Awami League family no matter whether I am involved with the party or not. And everywhere I claim myself as a member of the party (AL)," he said with a smile.
Replying to a query if he wants to participate in the mayoral polls, he said it is a premature question. "Wait and see."
Khokon, son of former DCC mayor and city AL president Mohammad Hanif, prior to his joining the PDP, had held the AL responsible for his father's death. Khokon is one of the two city unit leaders who joined the new party terming the AL a crippled organisation.
Some of the city unit leaders however sharply reacted to Khokon's likely return to the AL, and said if Khokon is allowed to come back without punishment, then there would be no discipline in the party in future.
Acting AL President Zillur Rahman Thursday said although Khokon met him, he is no longer a party man as he joined a new party.
Meanwhile, Dhaka City Awami League Vice-President MA Aziz and Joint Secretary Advocate Quamrul Islam have been made acting president and acting general secretary of the city unit.
The decision was taken unanimously at a meeting yesterday between the leaders of Awami League and its city unit with Acting AL President Zillur Rahman in the chair.
The city AL was having a leadership crisis as its president Mohammad Hanif died last year and General Secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya went into hiding after the state of emergency was imposed on January 11 this year.
Talking to reporters, Zillur said a flawless voter list is essential for fair polls and all should be remain vigilant about it as election is the best way to hand over power.
"Seeing government initiatives, it seems that there will be an election and we all need to prepare for the polls," he said.
But he hastened to say that the party's central working committee will decide whether AL will participate in the elections.
Zillur urged the government to lift the ban on indoor politics across the country, saying that organisational activities are being hampered due to the restriction.
The AL will form constituency-based teams for supervising and monitoring organisational activities in the capital. Sources said each committee will be headed by a party presidium member, and either a joint secretary or organising secretary will assist him.
The committee's task is to activate the ward and thana unit committees of the city. Many of the committees are not active now as their leaders have been absconding due to the ongoing anti-corruption drive.
The party however would not form any new committees as it might have a negative impact on city's politics. Rather, the party would assign some leaders to look after organisational activities where there is no committee or the committee is not active.
Sources said top AL leaders including Zillur Rahman, Tofail Ahmed, Motia Chowdhury and acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam sat several times in the last one week to discuss steps to strengthen the city unit.