BNP senior leader and nomination aspirant Abu Bakkar Abu has been killed due to his party’s internal feuds, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said on Friday.
“There are many aspirants from the Jessore district who are seeking BNP ticket for the election. Abu Bakkar may have been killed due to their internal conflicts; in his absence, his rivals can get the nomination,” Quader said during a press conference held at the ruling party president’s political office in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, affirmed that the ruling party does not see any interest in this murder, and urged the law enforcement agencies to conduct a proper investigation to bring Abu Bakkar’s murderer to light.
Abu Bakkar, 60, who was the vice-president of BNP’s Jessore district unit, was abducted on November 18 from in front of a hotel in Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area. He had come to Dhaka to collect a nomination form for the Jessore 6 constituency to contest the upcoming 11th parliamentary election, BNP sources said.
His body was recovered from the Buriganga River on Wednesday evening.
Before his body was found, his abductors had already taken Tk1.70 lakh from his family, sources close to the family said.
Abu Bakkar was also the chairman of the Majidpur Upazila Parishad.
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‘Awami League will win the election’
Claiming that all surveys showed that Awami League was more popular than BNP, Quader said he was hopeful that his party would win the next general polls.
He further said the ruling party feared that BNP and its allies may cause violence ahead of the election, which is scheduled to take place on December 30.
He reiterated his party’s support for the Election Commission’s decision to use electronic voting machines (EVMs) during the election.
“EVMs will be used in some parts of the country on a very small scale,” he added.
Quader also said seat allotment among the partners of 14-party alliance was nearly done and would be announced soon.
The press briefing was also attended by Awami League Organizing Secretary Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Law Affairs Secretary SM Rezaul Karim, and Relief and Social Welfare Secretary Sujit Roy Nandi, among others.