As part of thorough election campaigns, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina attended rallies in different districts in the last couple of months and sought people’s mandate for her party. She will visit more areas in the coming days to drum up support for the ruling government’s second term in power.
The party started formal electioneering in full swing on September 1 with tour programmes across the country. It is also working on the election manifesto and scrutinising probable candidates for the parliamentary elections.
Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is set to come to Bangladesh today, will take part in the election campaigns actively.
Yesterday, Hasina started holding meetings with district-level leaders to listen to their opinions and learn about the organisational strength at the grassroots level.
On the first day of the series of meetings, she sat with the leaders of district, upazila and class one municipality units of Dinajpur, Jamalpur, Rajbari, Manikganj, Lalmonirhat, Gazipur and Bhola.
Meeting sources said the district unit leaders were given 10 questions to answer. The questions were on three probable candidates of every constituency, their educational qualifications, position in the party, relationship with party men, acceptability, family influence, financial condition, and whether they ever contested in any polls and, if yes, the results. Each question carried 10 marks.
Hasina assured the grassroots leaders that the aspirants would be selected upon their suggestions, but they would have to work for the candidates selected by the party’s parliamentary board.
She also asked the leaders to form committees in every polling centre and publicise through billboards the achievements of her government and the misrule of the previous BNP-Jamaat coalition government.
At the meeting, the leaders expressed dissatisfaction over the role of ministers and MPs. They told the party chief that within the organisation, there were frustration, infighting and differences. If the differences were resolved, the party would win the electoral battle.
Leaders from Bhola blamed the party’s advisory council members Tofail Ahmed and Yusuf Hossain Humayun for creating division among the party leaders and activists. They feared that the Awami League might lose Bhola 1 and 2 constituencies if the division could not be resolved.
Allegations were also raised against Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad for fewer activities in his own constituency in Jamalpur. They also questioned Land Minister Rezaul Karim Hira’s qualification as a minister, the meeting source confirmed the Dhaka Tribune.
The grassroots leaders criticised the party’s publicity wing, saying it had totally failed to counter the religious propaganda against the government by the opposition BNP-Jamaat and Hefazat-e-Islam.
Asked about the party’s election activities, Presidium member Kazi Zafarullah told the Dhaka Tribune: “On August 30, the prime minister formally announced the beginning of the election campaigns. Since then the party has been making all-out preparations for the polls.”
He said they embarked on strengthening the party’s organisational base through countrywide tours. “This exercise will make the party activists polls-centric.”
Presidium member Fazlul Karim Selim said the party was getting ready for the next general elections. “We have primarily focused on resolving the complexities and differences within the party.”
Hasina from the August 30 mourning rally at Suhrawardy Udyan sought votes for the party for a second consecutive term with a view to finishing the unfinished tasks of her government.
The party has constituted an election steering committee headed by the party president to speed up election preparations. Prime minister’s advisers HT Imam and Mashiur Rahman have been made co-chairmen of the body.
Meanwhile, 15 teams led by the party’s senior leaders are touring across the country to reinforce the party’s organisational strength and resolve intra-party conflicts.
The party is working also on preparing the election manifesto based on the declaration of the party’s council last year. It comprises the unfinished tasks pledged before the 2008 polls and some new development projects.
Presidium member Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin and Food Minister Abdur Razzaq are supervising the task.
Sheikh Hasina has recently asked lawmaker from a Dhaka constituency Saber Hossain Chowdhury to attend the Dhanmondi office regularly, assigning him to discharge some specific election-related duties.
The Awami League also decided to train up 600,000 party members as polling agents.
