Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina alerted her party’s parliament members about the upazila parishad elections, saying it would be challenging for them as the BNP had decided to participate.
“As the BNP has decided to join the poll, upazila election will be a tough fight, so you have to try your best so that the party-backed candidates win,” Hasina told her party’s MPs at the Awami League Parliamentary Party meeting.
A number of MPs attending the meeting told the Dhaka Tribune that the party chief had also asked them not to oppose the grassroots’ choice of candidates.
The ALPP nominated Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury as the speaker of the 10th parliament, Fazle Rabbi as the deputy speaker and Syeda Sazeda Chowdhury as the deputy leader of the House.
In the meeting, Hasina also instructed the MPs to ensure that every upazila parishad had a single candidate.
“A single candidate will be chosen through discussion with the party’s grassroots – the ward, union and upazila units of the party. All MPs will coordinate the process but no interference will be allowed,” Hasina was quoted as saying.
She added that the MPs must not support anyone against the grassroots decisions.
Meeting sources said Hasina had asked the lawmakers who had been elected unopposed to deposit Tk10 lakh in the party fund. She also instructed all MPs to deposit their party subscriptions of Tk2,000 each.
At a briefing after the meeting, Chief Whip ASM Feroz said the prime minister had instructed them to ensure single candidate in each upazila election.
“The Leader of House has instructed us to work honestly and transparently,” Feroz said.
Sources said Hasina had suggested that the MPs highlighted the violence, killings and anarchy carried out by the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami while speaking in parliament on the president’s speech.
She alerted her MPs to conspiracies against the government, saying: “The actors of 1/11 were still active and were trying to harass the government.”
The prime minister also observed that her party was more united than ever and praised the way Awami League had faced the BNP and its key ally Jamaat.
At the meeting LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam said according to the Representation of the People Order (RPO) they had no scope to get directly involved in the upazila election.
However, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said the BNP would join the upazila polls openly as a party to reinforce its organisation, which was a matter to think about.
“It is not always possible to follow the grammar at every step,” Matia told the meeting, according to several MPs.
