Kushtia 2 constituency promises to be a fascinating contest in the upcoming parliamentary elections due to a deepening “cold war” between two heavyweight candidates of the ruling Awami League-led 14-party alliance.
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu is the current MP of this constituency, which has 303,405 registered voters spread across the Mirpur and Bheramara upazilas.
When he was first elected in 2008, he had every reason to thank Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif, who vacated the seat in the greater interest of the alliance.
As a reward for his sacrifice, Hanif was made the prime minister’s special assistant and was elected to parliament in the neighbouring constituency of Kushtia 3 in the 2014 election, when Inu was again elected uncontested in Kushtia 2.
The present scenario is different, however. A “cold war” between the two leaders has impacted the local politics.
Alliance clashes
Occasionally, their rival supporters become involved in clashes and attack each other’s party offices. This has resulted in a number of deaths in the past year and has led to many supporters being jailed.
According to Awami League insiders, Inu’s nomination as a candidate of the 14-party alliance is almost final. He has already started campaigning, and visits the constituency every month to exchange views with the locals.
The local Awami League has said they will not allow Inu to run uncontested for a third election in a row.
If the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president does decide to defend his seat then the ruling party is likely to endorse its Mirpur upazila unit leader and upazila chairman, Kamarul Arefin, who is loyal to Hanif.
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“We will urge the party’s high command not to nominate Inu as he has failed to gain popularity at the grassroots, even after having been elected as an MP for the last two consecutive terms,” Arefin said.
Inu has not been able to implement a major development project in his constituency—even after becoming a minister.
Arefin continued: “If Inu is nominated, it will be difficult for him to win the election, because local activists have already decided not to work for him.”
Arefin said that since independence, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal activists have killed many Awami League men. “They are again on a killing spree,” he said.
However, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal district unit’s President Golam Mohsin said the 14-party alliance should contest the election together to foil BNP’s “conspiracy”.
“The dedicated Awami League activists should work for the candidate of the boat symbol and overlook incidents,” he said.
BNP hopefuls
Although BNP has said it will not participate in the election if it is held under a partisan government, potential candidates are not sitting idle in the seat won by the party at three straight elections from 1991 to 2001.
Aspiring nominees include the BNP district unit’s former president and former MP, Shahidul Islam, who is a household name in the constituency.
Local BNP leaders think Shahidul can be the only opposition candidate to counter the rival 14-party alliance’s prospective candidate, Inu, as he keeps in regular touch with locals and is popular among grassroots-level activists.
Another nomination-hopeful is Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum’s leader Barrister Ragib Rauf Chowdhury, who is currently dealing with cases filed against local BNP leaders, including the party’s jailed chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The other nomination aspirants of the BNP-led 20-party alliance are Dhaka Metropolitan Mohila Dal General Secretary Farida Yasmin, Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar faction) leader Ahsan Habib Lincoln, and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Gafur.
