Awami League is facing a selection headache over its candidate for the Gazipur City Corporation mayoral election as internal conflict threatens the ruling party’s chances in the polls.
Around 10 leaders of Awami League and its affiliated organizations have already submitted nomination forms for the Gazipur election. Awami League will pick their mayoral candidate in a meeting of the party’s Local Government Nomination Board on Sunday, to be presided over by Prime Minister and party President Sheikh Hasina.
The Gazipur mayoral polls are scheduled to be held on May 15.
Among the nomination seekers from the ruling party, Awami League Mahanagar unit President Azmat Ullah Khan and General Secretary Jahangir Alam are the front runners. Both are considered popular among voters.
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Asking to remain anonymous, an organizing secretary of Awami League told the Dhaka Tribune that the party would face a headache regardless of which of the two were picked, as the other would work against the one who was granted the nomination.
“We all know that Azmat Ullah Khan and Jahangir Alam maintain different factions. If one gets the nomination, then the other will take offense and secretly work against the party candidate, or will be inactive during elections, dividing up the party’s votes,” the organizing secretary said.
Furthermore, local sources said that there were also conflicts between Gazipur district unit President and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM MozammelHuq, Gazipur 3 constituency MP Rahamat Ali, and District General Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Hossain Sabuj.
They added that the conflict between Rahmat Ali and Sabuj was behind Awami League’s defeat in three recent union parishad elections.
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According to Awami League’s Dhanmondi office, Sabuj, Jahangir and the other younger leaders of the party are on one side, while senior party leaders on the other.
Leaders of the Awami League Central Committee told the Dhaka Tribune that the party had lost the polls in Gazipur city in 2013, and they may lose again if the party failed to resolve the internal conflicts.
However, Awami League leaders from Gazipur denied that there was conflict in their midst and said they would all work for the party-nominated candidate.
“I will work with all of the party leaders to secure an Awami League victory,” Jahangir Alam claimed.