Rift in Sylhet BNP widens
Saifur Rahman and Ilyas Ali
Dogged by internal feud for long, rivalry between Sylhet BNP factions widened as pro-Ilyas party men yesterday boycotted a scheduled meeting with central leaders who came here from the capital to try to narrow the gap.
BNP central joint secretary general Prof Abdul Mannan led the central leaders' team comprising former whip Fazlul Haque Aspia and former lawmakers Khaleda Rabbani and Abeda Chowdhury. They called a meeting with five-member teams from both the district and city committees.
The two rival factions in Sylhet are led by BNP stalwart and former finance minister Saifur Rahman and former lawmaker Ilyas Ali.
The Ilyas-led faction boycotted yesterday's meeting raising questions on committee members.
Ali Ahmed, a member of the district BNP convening committee said, “We can not accept such a committee to discuss organisational matters in Sylhet.
“Former whip Aspia kept himself away during the crisis after promulgation of emergency.
“The other members are also not acceptable to us for their questionable roles at different times” he said.
Khaleda Rabbani had betrayed the party during the crisis while Abeda Chowdhury had no link with party men, Ali Ahmed said. “We can not sit with opportunists”.
On the other hand, city BNP general secretary Nasim Hossain said, “We sat with the central team and discussed the party situation in Sylhet.
“We had informed (the central leadership) about the other faction, which is creating trouble for the party in Sylhet”, Nasim added.
The committee will visit Sylhet and there will be another meeting in mid-October to decide on party matters, Nasim added.
The district convening committee is dominated by Ilyas-led people while the city committee is dominated by the other faction led by Saifur for long.
Saifur's return to mainstream BNP and Khondker Delwar 'strong position' in the party now have encouraged both the rival factions to fight for a 'better position' in Sylhet district and city committees, party men believe.
The post of city BNP president fell vacant after Ariful Haque Chowdhury was sentenced in a graft case months ago. Since then, the rival factions declared two party men as 'acting president' of city BNP from their groups.
Ilyas-led faction made Noman Mahmud acting president of Sylhet BNP while Saifur followers declared name of Mahmud Hossain Manju to the post.
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