Two-time city mayor and expelled BNP leader Monirul Haque Sakku has blamed a section of the party behind his defeat in the last Comilla City Corporation (CoCC) election.
He alleges that Nizamuddin Kaiser, brother-in-law of Comilla South District BNP Convener Haji Amin ur-Rashid Yasin, was nominated by maintaining liaison with the ruling party. The Awami League benefited from this.
Sakku has been expelled from the BNP for life several times since the first CoCC election.
He has not got his membership back after being expelled before the 2022 election.
In the first mayoral election held in 2012, Sakku defeated veteran Awami League leader Afzal Khan by over 30,000 votes. He later won against Afzal Khan's daughter, Anjum Sultana Sima, in 2017 by a close margin of 10,000 votes. Sima later became a member of parliament from a reserved seat.
Despite political disputes, Sakku says he never wanted to be an alternative to Haji Yasin as a candidate in the national election. He wants to remain satisfied with his previous success at the CoCC polls.
On the other hand, due to the death of city mayor Arfanul Haque Rifat on December 13, a new discussion has opened up on what Sakku’s role could be in the city corporation by-election.
However, since the city corporation's mayoral seat has not been declared vacant, no one wanted to comment directly. Sakku did not admit that he was preparing for the city elections, even though several close leaders insisted that he consider it. At the moment, everyone's eyes are on his position in the parliamentary elections.
Even though he was expelled from the party, Sakku actively participated in the BNP's anti-government movement and had a follower base. He is popular among the ordinary people as well. He believes that even if expelled due to a mistake, the party will pull him back at any time.
Many believe that if he participates in the national election as an independent candidate, Haji Yasin will face the challenge. Haji Yasin would have been the possible BNP candidate had the party joined the national election.
The current MP from the Comilla-6 (Sadar) seat, AKM Bahauddin Bahar, and reserved seat MP Anjuman Sultana Sima will give each other a tough time in the national election this time, local politicians say. Anjuman Sultana is an independent candidate for the same seat.
Many also speculate on the shift in Sakku's support and influence in the election.
Although Sakku was on good terms with MP Bahar before and it was an open secret, that relationship is not the same anymore.
Their relationship soured after MP Bahar's follower, Arfanul Haque Rifat, became a candidate in the last mayoral election. Rifat won the polls with 50,310 votes, defeating Sakku by only 342 votes.
Accusations and counter-accusations between Sakku and Bahar began a few months after Rifat took office. Bahar called Sakku corrupt on various occasions. Sakku also hurled a counter-allegation at Bahar.
Rumours of compromise
Both Bahar and Anjuman Sultana are candidates in the national election. Therefore, some people speculate about the possibility of Sakku's compromising with one of them. Some say that Sakku has already reached a compromise with Anjuman Sultana.
Rokeya Begum Shefali, Comilla district president of the Conscious Citizens Committee, said the struggle of political parties to assert their dominance and power is nothing new.
Advocate Ashok Dev Joy, Comilla district president of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), said: "The common people of the country have no interest in the current election. It does not matter whether there is any compromise reached by any candidate with Sakku."
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Anjuman Sultana, who is also vice president of the Metropolitan Awami League, said the people are her main strength. Therefore, the question of a compromise is baseless.
Advocate Zahirul Haque Salim, vice president of Comilla Metropolitan Awami League, said Bahar will become MP again, and there is no possibility of any reconciliation with former mayor Sakku.
Sakku told Dhaka Tribune that he is not interested in the general election at the moment.
Although the party did not withdraw his expulsion, he did not go beyond the ideals of the BNP. His supporters have joined the anti-government movement.
The former mayor said that although he did not get a green signal from the party, he still participated in the Comilla divisional rally on November 26 last year and the road march on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway on October 5 this year.
He claimed there was no need for any agreement with anyone, as he trusted the party and the people.
