AL in great trouble as weak partners stake strong claim

Noor Mohammad Khan (L), Azizul Islam

There are 22 seats in greater Rangpur comprising Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts and 11 in greater Dinajpur covering Dinajpur, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts.

Talking to this correspondent, political circles said only three parties of the 14 party combine are by and large active in the region and have party organisations in certain areas. These are Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu), Workers Party and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD).

JSD demands six seats, Workers Party four and BSD demands one seat from the region, sources in the parties said.

Workers Party central politbureau member Noor Mohammad Khan said his party would like to contest from four constituencies in the eight districts. These are Dinajpur-3 (Dinajpur Sadar upazila), Gaibandha-3 (Gaibandha Sadar), Thakurgaon-2 (Pirganj and part of Ranishankail) and Nilphamar-1 (Dimla upazila).

Possible contenders are party central leader and former Dinajpur municipal chairman Mosaddek Hossain Labu from Dinajpur-3, Aminul Islam Golap from Gaibandha-3, Shahidul Islam Shahid from Thakurgaon -2 and Noor Mohammad Khan from Nilphamari-1 constituency.

JSD (Inu) central leader and its Nilphamari district unit president Azizul Islam said his party would seek nomination from Panchagarh-1 (Panchagarh Sadar and Tentulia upazilas), Rangpur-2 (Taraganj and Badarganj), Gaibandha-2 (Saghata), Gaibandha-1 (Sadar), Rangpur-3 (Rangour Sadar) and Nilphamari-3 Ujaldhaka and part Kishoreganj upazilas).

JSD (Inu) would demand 14-party alliance ticket for its central joint general secretary Nazmul Haque Prodhan from Panchagarh-1, for Kumaresh Roy from Rangpur-2, for Sirajul Islam Babu from Gaibandha-2, for Md Masud from Gaibandha-1, for Ekramul Haque Swapan from Rangpur-3 and Azizul Islam from Nilphamari-3, party sources said.

BSD leader Subhrangsu Charkabarty would seek alliance ticket from Kurigram-2 constituency.

The Workers Party politbureau member said that his party deserves the rights to have the tickets for party men because they are playing a vital role in the on going agitation for a free and fair election.

Noor Mohammad Khan and Azizul Islam said they are pro-liberation forces and struggling together with Awami League and other parties to establish voting rights of people. So, they can expect some alliance tickets in the coming election, they said.

The claim by the smaller parties evoked a sharp reaction from Awami League leaders and workers in the region. They claimed that they have 'strong' candidates to win the election in most of the 11 seats claimed by the smaller partners.

Giving the seats to them would mean losing those as the parties have 'weak organisational strength' in those areas and showed 'disappointing performance' in last election, they said.

Former general secretary of Nilphamari Poura Awami League Mahfuzur Rahman said, "Awami League can not endanger its existence by sacrificing a number of parliamentary seats to weak candidates of small parties in the name of alliance".

Performance of the smaller partners in the region was not satisfactory 1991, 1996 and 2001 elections, he said. In 2001 election, their candidates contested separately from 15 constituencies in greater Rangpur and Dinajpur but got less than 30,000 votes in total, he said.

JSD central leader Azizul Islam contested from Nilphamari-3 and got only 496 votes, he added.

Workers Party politbeaurea member Noor Mohammad Khan contested from Nilphamari-1 and got only 1,743 votes. Same was the situation in other constituencies, Mahfuzur Rahman added.

Dimla upazila AL president Aftabuddin Ahmed, who is an aspirant for ticket from Nilphamari-1, said his party has at least five 'strong' candidates in his area.

"I do not understand why Workers Party man would be fielded and how they think of victory", he said.

Some other leaders of the smaller parties however claimed that their position is better now because they are in movement along with Awami League.