No comment on Zahangir till there is party decision: Quader

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today declined to comment on former Gazipur City AL General Secretary Zahangir Alam's actions surrounding the Gazipur city polls until the party takes a decision in this regard.

Asked whether the ruling party would take any action as the suspended Gazipur mayor was campaigning for his mother instead of the party-nominated mayoral candidate, Quader said as far as he knew, Zahangir's mother Zaida Khatun had never been part of Awami League's politics.

Zaida is running as an independent for the post of mayor for the Gazipur city polls slated for May 25. Azamat Ullah Khan is the Awami League candidate.

"I know that he [Zahangir] used to be part of Awami League, and had become mayor with the party backing. I will not make any comment now until the the party takes a decision in this regard," Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, told reporters after a programme at a hotel in the capital

Zahangir was expelled from the Awami League in November 2021 after a video clip of him making derogatory remarks about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and expressing doubts about the number of martyrs in the Liberation War went viral on social media.

He was also suspended from the post of GCC mayor by the local government ministry a few days later.

In January this year, the ruling party withdrew the expulsion order.