BNP aspirant vows to resist Nitai Roy in Magura-1

"He (Nitai) failed in the last election because party men were not happy with him as he was not a voter from the area (Magura-1 comprising Magura Sadar and Sreepur upazilas)", said district BNP leader AN Kamaluddin Mostofa at a press conference held at Magura Press Club. Nitai Roy is a voter from Magura-2 constituency comprising Mohammadpur upazila, he claimed.

Kamaluddin, a retired chief engineer of Public Works Department (PWD), joined BNP in 2001. He is from Sreepur upazila.

In a written statement, he claimed that he was supposed to get alliance nomination in last election. BNP vice-president Tariqul Islam had assured him of nomination and made a public announcement before the last election. But Nitai got nomination because of a conspiracy by some quarters, Kamaluddin alleged.

His nomination frustrated the BNP rank and file in the area and the alliance nominee was defeated by Awami League candidate MS Akbar, Kamaluddin said.

BNP leaders and activists will resist Nitai Roy if he is nominated again from Magura-1, he said.

In reply to a question he claimed himself to be a 'qualified candidate'. "If I am not nominated, the part high command should at least select a man who is a voter from Magura-1 constituency", Kamaluddin said.

"People of Sreepur upazila have already declared Nitai Roy unwanted", he claimed.

In the statement Kamaluddin also criticised a section of district leaders and alleged that formation of the district BNP committee was largely influenced by black money and muscle power. He blamed them for 'patronising terrorists' but did not identify any body.

Nitai's nomination in the last election gave rise to intra-party feud, he claimed. If he is nominated again, the feud will intensify and the BNP-led alliance will be surely defeated again, Kamaluddin said.

Former joint organising secretary of Sreepur BNP Rezaul Islam, who was also present at the press conference, claimed that the alliance was defeated in Magura-1 because it nominated a man who is not a voter from the area. This created dissatisfaction among party men. After the election, Nitai Roy never visited the area, he said.

Talking to this correspondent later, Sadar than BNP president Sakhwat Hossain said, violating party discipline, aspirant candidates and rival leaders have started mudslinging and publicly accusing each other, widening the intra-party conflict. This will affect voters in the area again in the coming election, he said. The party high command should resolve the dispute immediately.

BNP in Magura is dogged by internal feud. Party sources said four persons at separate press meets declared themselves as aspirants for alliance ticket from Magura-1. They are former leader of central Jatiyobadi Chattra Dal Khan Monowar Hossain, Brig Gen (Rtd) Masudur Rahman Khan, Dhaka city Juba Dal leader MA Ahad Liton and AN Kamaluddin Mostofa. They are now involved in mudslinging against each other, the sources said.

Magura BNP is divided into two factions, one led by district vice-president Nazimuddin and the other by general secretary Ali Ahmed Biswas.

On May 28, the two rival factions came on streets and accused each other publicly. Nazimuddin called Ali Ahmed Biswas an 'outlaw' and demanded his immediate arrest. Ali Ahmed called their rivals 'agents' of the opposition.

On March 5 this year, rivals burnt Nitai Roy's effigy and declared him 'unwanted' in Sreepur upazila, alleging that he was doing anti-party activities.