All eyes now on Gazipur

All eyes are now on Gazipur as the Awami League and BNP-led alliances are backing their two local leaders for another battle of ballots for the post of city mayor.
Scheduled for July 6, the maiden election to Gazipur City Corporation is going to be held hot on the heels of a fierce electoral battle between the two alliances in Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet city corporations. In all the four cities, the BNP mayoral favourites won emphatically over their rivals backed by AL.
In the primary battle within their own fronts, both the alliances have become successful in keeping one leader from their respective platforms in the mayoral race.
Withdrawal of candidacies by the Jatiya Party and Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) leaders has paved the way for Ajmat Ullah Khan and MA Mannan to enjoy full blessings from the AL and BNP-led alliances in the polls. Jatiya Party is a component of the AL-led 14-party grand alliance, while the Islami Oikya Jote belongs to BNP-led 18-party combine.
More than 10 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in the Gazipur polls.
Ajmat had been the mayor of Tongi municipality for more than 20 years, while Mannan is a former lawmaker and state minister.
On the last day for withdrawal of candidacy yesterday, Jatiya Party leader Brig Gen (retd) Kazi Mahmud Hasan withdrew his candidacy for the mayoral post.
"I withdrew my candidacy fearing election debacle of the grand alliance," he told newsmen in Gazipur.
Fazlur Rahman, joint secretary general of IOJ, withdraw himself from the electoral race to lend full support to the BNP-backed candidate.
A local leader of Hefajat-e Islam, Fazlur had stepped into the electoral race out of annoyance as the BNP did not consult Hefajat before supporting Mannan, said a local IOJ leader.
Contacted, IOJ leader Ahlullah Wasel said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had asked them to persuade Fazlur to withdraw from the race. BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had also met the Hefajat leaders and made the same request.
USE OF RELIGION
Like the just concluded four city polls, Hefajat and other Islamist outfits are set to use religion to rally public sentiment against the AL favourite in the Gazipur polls.
"In the upcoming polls, we will again use the Islam issue against the atheists. People in the four city polls have showed yellow cards to the government and they will do it again in Gazipur," Abul Kashem Kashimi, a Dhaka city leader of Hefajat, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Asked about the polls, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, a member of BNP standing committee, said they expect victory in Gazipur polls like the ones in four cities.
"Party's leaders and workers have been inspired by the results in four cities. We expect our party leader will win the Gazipur polls," he told The Daily Star.
Leaders of AL-led alliance have started outlining their strategy considering the results in the four cities.
AKM Mozammel Huq, AL lawmaker from Gazipur, said they have already started working for Ajmat Ullah Khan.
"We took lessons from the defeats in the four cities. Certainly we lacked in our strategy there. But this time around, we want to plug the loopholes," he mentioned.