Partners reluctant about joint campaign

The BNP yesterday received a poor response from the top leaders of the 20-party alliance for jointly taking part in the campaign of the December 30 municipal polls.

Many alliance leaders were unwilling to join the polls campaign fearing reprisal from the government. They also alleged that the BNP paid little attention to them while picking mayor candidates to back.

Some leaders pointed out that there was a divide between the BNP and Jamaat over nominations.

Talking to The Daily Star, Islami Oikya Jote chief Abdul Latif Nejami said they would not be able to join the polls campaign as they would be busy with the preparations for the party's council meeting slated for early next month.

Golam Mostafa Bhuiyan, secretary general of Bangladesh Nap, said his party chief would not take part as he would be busy with other activities.

However, the secretary generals of the alliance components at a meeting at the BNP chief's Gulshan office yesterday reached a consensus to campaign jointly to ensure victory for the mayor hopefuls from alliance.

There were no representatives from the Jamaat and Islami Oikya Jote at the meeting of the 20-partly leaders.

Talking to newsmen after the meeting, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the meeting decided to reach a consensus with the independent mayor candidates from Jamaat-e-Islami, a key component of the alliance, across the country.

Meeting sources said the representative of Khelafat Majlish alleged that the party was not given proper attention during mayor-aspirant selection.

“We were asked to send BNP a list of our mayor hopefuls through an email. We sent one, but the email bounced back. When we called the BNP leaders over the phone, they neglected us,” an alliance leader quoted the Khelafat leader as saying.

Another leader asked what they would do if there were mayor candidates in a particular municipality from the BNP and also Jamaat.

Fakhrul in response said although the BNP were trying to reach a consensus with Jamaat on this issue, the alliance partners were free to support any candidate.

Sources in Jamaat said the party backed 31 mayor candidates in as many municipalities. Besides, 150 councillor hopefuls from the party were in the race.

BREACH OF POLLS CODE

In Mymensingh, a court sent two supporters of the Awami League mayor candidate in Muktagacha to jail yesterday for allegedly stabbing a supporter of Jatiya Party mayor hopeful three days ago.

The two are Shiblu Miah, 22, and Mobarak Hossain, 21, police said.

In Chuadanga Sadar upazila, a mobile court fined BNP activist Nayan Ali Tk 10,000 for violating the electoral code of conduct during campaigning. He was putting up billboards on a road for BNP mayor nominee Mir Mohiuddin.

In Bakerganj municipality of Barisal, some AL men swooped on the supporters of the BNP mayor hopeful during campaigning, leaving at least five injured.

The polls officials in Chatkhil of Noakhali fined councillor hopeful AHM Faruk Tk 5,000 for using loudspeakers after 8:00pm.

Meanwhile, BNP chief Khaleda Zia last night asked leaders of different pro-BNP professional bodies to campaign for the 20-party nominated candidates.

During a meeting at her Gulshan office, she said the alliance was taking part in the December 30 municipality polls even though it knew the polls would not be free and fair.

She urged them to let people know about the irregularities the government and the ruling party commit, a professional body leader quoted Khaleda as saying in the meeting.

Our correspondent from Mymensingh and three correspondents from Chuadanga, Barisal and Noakhali contributed to this report.