BCC Polls ‘Campaign’: AL nominee all on his own

The Awami League mayoral candidate in the Barishal city polls, Abul Khair Abdullah, is meeting city dwellers ahead of the polls but without any support from the party leaders who are loyal to incumbent Mayor Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah and his father Abul Hasanat Abdullah.

During his interaction with the people on Tuesday, no key leaders of the city and district AL units, except for city unit Senior Vice President Afzalul Karim, accompanied the mayor hopeful, said party sources.

The previous day, Khair's supporters and the leaders and activities of the other AL faction held two separate rallies in the city to mark May Day.

Some central AL leaders, including presidium members Abdur Rahman and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, recently visited Barishal, but they could not involve the supporters of the mayor and his father in Khair's "campaign", said sources in the ruling party.

The polls to Barishal City Corporation are scheduled for June 12.

Leaders and activists of the Barishal city and district AL virtually became divided into two after the party picked Khair over Sadiq on April 15.

Party leaders loyal to Sadiq said that the "differences" in the organisation would be resolved through a joint meeting of the district and city AL committees. Hasanat, president of Barishal district AL, will call the meeting soon, they added.

"As the city Awami League General Secretary Serniabat Sadiq Abdullah has been away from Barishal since the first week of April, the city unit leaders and activists could not join the polls campaign of Khair," a city AL leader told The Daily Star, wishing anonymity.

City AL President AKM Jahangar said, "We will participate in the polls campaign according to the directives to be given by our guardian Abul Hasanat Abdullah in a joint meeting of the district and metropolitan committees of the party."

However, supporters of Khair said this is a ploy of wasting time by the followers of the mayor.

AL leader Torun Chanda alleged that such a situation has arisen because Hasanat and his son Sadiq only gave priority to their supporters in the party for a long time.

Mayor Sadiq has absolute control over the Barisal city AL while his father Hasanat, also a lawmaker from Barishal-1, has total influence over the district unit of the party. The two did not take part in any party activities since the AL's nomination board picked Khair as its mayoral candidate.

After Khair was picked, a section of AL leaders who were "politically cornered" by the followers of the mayor became active. Among them are supporters of State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque, also a lawmaker from Barishal-5.

When the mayoral nominee came to Barisal from Dhaka with some central AL leaders on April 20, the anti-Sadiq faction welcomed Khair and held a reception at the city AL office .

Five central AL leaders, including Abdur Rahman and Nanak, were present at the event, but almost all city, district and ward unit leaders of the party and the supporters of Sadiq and Hasanat did not show up.

Only the Barishal city AL president, AKM Jahangir, and district AL general secretary, Talukder Md Younus, addressed that event. The two, however, are now not accompanying the party mayoral candidate during his "campaign".

AL leaders said as the opposition BNP, which is boycotting the polls, has a huge vote bank in Barishal city, a united polls campaign for the ruling party nominee is a must to ensure his win.

Speaking at an event marking the inauguration of Khair's campaign office on Sadar Road in Barishal city on April 28, AL presidium member Nanak said, "Those who are in the party have no scope to oppose the candidate nominated by Sheikh Hasina."

Many, however, said that the outcome of the next city polls may be similar to that of the 2013 Barishal city polls.

In that election, AL nominee Shawkat Hossain Hiran lost to BNP candidate Ahsan Habib Kamal by a margin of about 15,000 votes as the party faction loyal to Hasanat either refrained from voting or did not vote for "boat", said party leaders.

Late mayor Ahsan's son Kamrul Ahsan Rupan has announced that he would take part in the mayoral polls as an independent.

The last date for filing nomination papers is May 16 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is May 25.

Khair earlier this week said if anyone doesn't take part in polls campaign, the party high-ups will look into it.

This newspaper could not reach Sadiq for comments as he did not pick up calls.