The drama nears the end

A month before the Sylhet city polls, tension has taken over the political atmosphere in Sylhet as the incumbent mayor Ariful Haque Choudhury called an open mass gathering today to declare his decision over the polls.

Since his return from the UK on April 16 after visiting BNP's acting chairman Tarique Rahman, he kept on adding to the tension by not clearing his stance regarding the polls.

In the presence of Sylhet dwellers and the media at the mass gathering of the Registrar's Office field in the city's Bandarbazar area at 2:00pm, he will declare his decision on whether he is participating in the polls or not.

However, BNP officially declared that the party will not participate in the city polls scheduled for June 21 and asked all BNP men to refrain from participating.

Meanwhile, police at first denied Ariful permission for the mass gathering at the field. The mayor started a sit-in protest in the afternoon in front of the ground. Around an hour later, he was permitted.

Sudip Das, additional deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police, said, "There remains no barrier for the mayor to organise the mass gathering. We will ensure strict security."

Ariful Haque Choudhury, a central member of BNP, is the elected mayor of the city for two consecutive terms since 2013.

Ahead of the Sylhet city polls, BNP decided not to participate in the demand for a free and fair national election.

To decide on his participation, Ariful on March went to the UK to meet the party's acting chairperson Tarique Rahman.

After 14 days, he returned on April 14 and said the party would not participate in the polls and he needed time to think about his decision.

Contacted, Ariful said, "The people of the city elected me twice and I will declare my decision at the programme."