Talukdar Abdul Khaleque has expressed his gratitude to voters for casting ballots in his favour and electing him mayor of Khulna city.
“I am grateful to all of you for electing me mayor of Khulna city. I will always be with you and work to ensure development of the town, even if it costs me my life,” he said on Saturday.
The mayor-elect made the remarks as chief guest at a meeting of Sadar and Sonadanga upazila units of Awami League in the office of the ruling party’s Khulna city unit.
“I have got back the post of mayor because of your efforts and sacrifices. We will have to make such sacrifices in the forthcoming parliamentary election to elect our prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, for a fourth term and to help the government implement its development projects,” Khaleque, president of the Khulna city unit of Awami League, said.
“Defying all odds and barriers, we will have to move forward and stand against the BNP-Jamaat clique.”
He also urged all to maintain sanctity of the holy Ramadan.
Khulna Sadar upazila Awami League President Md Saiful Islam chaired the meeting attended, among others, by the city unit’s general secretary Mizanur Rahman, also a member of parliament.
Khaleque was elected mayor of Khulna City Corporation on May 15, beating his closest rival BNP-blessed aspirant Nazrul Islam Monju by over 68,000 votes.
A well-known personality in Khulna, Khaleque is widely admired for his dedication, clean political image and development work he carried out during his first stint [2008-2013] as mayor of the metropolis.
In the 2013 election, he suffered a defeat to then BNP candidate Moniruzzaman Moni, as the Khulna unit of Awami League had been divided into various factions, most of which allegedly worked against party-nominated candidate Khaleque.