Awami League’s renegade candidate in the Gazipur City Corporation election Jahangir Alam has decided to withdraw from the polls following a lengthy meeting with the party president.
Sheikh Hasina’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting Tuesday that Jahangir had decided to withdraw his candidacy.
Jahangir is contesting the elections without the party’s approval.
AL leadership is viewing the upcoming Gazipur city corporation election as a means to recover after its massive defeat in polls at four city corporations on June 15. Voting for the newly created city corporation is due on July 6.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called Jahangir to her parliament office Tuesday, where communications minister Obaidul Quader along with Gazipur’s Awami League leaders attended a closed-door meeting.
“He has had a meeting with the prime minister. A section of the Awami League leaders want him to withdraw from the race,” Rahmat Ali, a Gazipur MP, told the Dhaka Tribune afterwards.
The Gazipur Awami League is apparently frustrated over the result of the four city corporations. Meanwhile, the BNP-led opposition alliance has fielded a common candidate - former state minister for religious affairs Abdul Mannan.
Awami League has picked its district general secretary Azmat Ullah, the former mayor of Tongi Municipality, as its official candidate, but former Chhatra League leader Jahangir Alam has also been contesting the polls, of his own accord.
Gazipur Awami League leaders say BNP’s candidate Abdul Mannan is in a better position as he is from Gazipur Sadar area where the numberof voters is over 600,000, while Azmat Ullah is from Tongi, which has about 400,000 voters.
Gazipur Sadar and Tongi together constitute the Gazipur city corporation. Jahangir Alam, a scrap cloth trader, is from Gazipur Sadar area. A good number of leaders and three Gazipur MPs wanted Jahangir to vie for the Awami League candidature.