A faction of Jatiya Party (JP) in Gazipur are campaigning for the main opposition’s BNP-backed mayoral aspirant for the upcoming GCC polls, in what appears to be a defiance of party chief HM Ershad’s directives.
Former military ruler HM Ershad’s JP is a key ally of the ruling Awami League in the 14-party grand alliance.
Awami League backed Azmat Ullah, former mayor of the now defunct Gazipur Municipality, and BNP-backed MA Mannan are two of the frontrunners of the Gazipur City Corporation polls scheduled for July 6.
Dr Mazharul Alam, joint secretary of the Gazipur unit of BNP, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Jatya Party’s Joint Secretary Asad Siddiqui has supported BNP-backed candidate MA Mannan. Many local leaders and activist of JP are campaigning in his favour.”
Nurul Islam, secretary of Gazipur district unit JP, said: “What BNP leader Mazharul Alam has said is true. We are campaigning in favour of Mannan and against the Awami League.”
“Our party chairman [Ershad] had told us to campaign in favour of Awami League candidate Azmat Ullah,” Nurul Islam said.
He also said: “But we are very upset with the Awami League because of the way they behaved with us over the last five years.
Our candidate has already withdrawn from the polls. So it is impossible for us to support the Awami League backed candidate.”
On June 23, an Awami League delegation, consisting of a number of senior leaders, met with Ershad in an apparent attempt to seek his party’s support in favour of the ruling party-backed candidate in the GCC polls. The JP Chief, however, has not yet made any public comment about who his party was going to support in the Gazipur city elections.
On Thursday Ershad said the Awami League’s disastrous results in the recently concluded city polls in Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet were a consequence of the ruling party’s misbehaviour with JP over the last four years.
On June 17, the last day for withdrawing candidacy, JP-backed GCC mayor candidate Brigadier General (retired) Kazi Mahmud Hasan withdrew himself from the race. He then said the continuance of his candidacy might lead to an election debacle in the grand alliance of which both Awami League and JP were parts.
