No trace yet of AL's rebel candidate

Jahangir Alam

Where is Jahangir Alam? It is now a widely discussed question among locals.
Jahangir, former vice-president of the pro-Awami League student body Bangladesh Chhatra League, has resigned as the vice-chairman of Gazipur sadar upazila to contest the July 6 Gazipur City Corporation polls.
But Ajmat Ullah Khan, general secretary of Gazipur district Awami League, has earned the party's blessings.
Senior AL leaders advised Jahangir to withdraw his candidacy as they took the polls more seriously after BNP-backed candidates swept the June 15 elections in four cities.
Jahangir declined to pull out of the race and got “Pineapple” as his electoral symbol on Tuesday.
Later, while campaigning in Tongi area by night, he was picked up by a number of former Chhatra League leaders and taken away in a vehicle, according to locals.
A few hours later, news spread that Jahangir had met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the AL chief, and decided to pull out of the race and work for Ajmat Ullah.
Jahangir has not been seen in the city since.
All the mobile phones of Jahangir, his wife, brothers and close aides were found switched off yesterday. His followers and workers cannot communicate with him.
Salahuddin, one of the supporters, however, said he had a brief mobile-phone conversation with Jahangir on Tuesday midnight. "He [Jahangir] has asked us to continue his electioneering."
Salahuddin, a resident of Tongi Deowra area, told our Gazipur correspondent over the telephone yesterday that without using any loudspeaker, they kept campaigning for Jahangir by door-to-door visits.
On Tuesday night, Jahangir's mother Jaeda Khatun fell sick during a conversation with her son over mobile phone, he added.
Relatives of Jahangir Alam do not want to talk about him with journalists.
Contacted, Ataullah Mandal, general secretary of Gazipur sadar upazila unit of AL, said he did not know anything about Jahangir. "I have not seen him for the last two or three days."
Rafizuddin, another local AL leader, claimed that Jahangir had extended his support to Ajmat Ullah.
Asked, AK Mozammel Haque, president of Gazipur district unit AL, said Jahangir was mentally depressed as he was dissuaded from contesting against the AL-backed candidate.
"That is why he avoided public appearances over the past couple of days. But Jahangir will join us in the campaign for Ajmat Ullah," claimed Mozammel, also an AL lawmaker.
Mozammel said: "Jahangir was convinced that he would not win the election. And party leaders told him that he would lose both election and party position if he stayed in the race."
He said Jahangir was not forced but convinced to support Ajmat.
"Former leaders of the Chhatra League were involved in talking him [Jahangir] into withdrawing his candidacy because they were his former colleagues in politics," the AL MP said.