Squabbles about ticket cast shadow over AL hopes

From left:: Shahjahan Mia, Maj (Rtd) Iqbal Hossain Khan, Sultan Ahmed Mridha and Harun-or-Rashid Howlader

At least eight party men will seek ticket, sources said.

AL won the seat in 1996 but lost to the alliance in 2001 with a small margin, allegedly due to intra-party feud.

In 2001, alliance candidate Altaf Hossain Chowdhury won the election by defeating AL candidate Patuakhali district AL president Shahjahan Mia. Altaf got 95,838 votes while Shajahan got 80,403 votes.

In 1996, Shahjahan Mia was elected from the constituency defeating BNP candidate former minister M Karamat Ali. Shahjahan got 63,951 votes and Karamat Ali got 52,369 votes.

Besides Shahjahn, seven other aspirants are seeking ticket form 14- party alliance in the coming election. They are Maj (Rtd) Iqbal Hossain Khan, former Patuakhali municipality chairman Sultan Ahmed Mridha, central Krishak League leader Harun-or-Rashid Howlader, central AL assistant secretary Afzal Hossain, advocate Imamul Hossain Feroz, Prof Gazi Delwar Hossain and science and technology secretary of central Jubo League engineer Goutam Chandra Guha.

Another aspirant for 14-party alliance ticket is central organising secretary of JSD advocate Habibur Rahman Shawkat.

All the aspirants have started campaign in the area, holding meetings and going door to door.

Maj Iqbal at a press conference at Patuakhali Press Club on October 18 said, "The AL-led 14 party alliance will lose this seat (Patuakhali-1) if Shahjahan Mia is nominated again because he became unpopular for ill treatment with people and party men".

"I helped party activists in the area who were harassed by ruling party men by false cases," he claimed.

At the press conference, Gazi Sarwar, organising secretary of Mirzagonj upazila AL said, "We believe party high-ups will nominate Iqbal Hossain Khan from the area if they want to regain the seat.

"If Shahjahan Mia gets nomination, most AL leaders and workers in Sadar, Dukmi and a faction in Mirzagonj will not support him," he added.

Earlier on the day, Iqbal Hossain addressed street corner rallies at Labukhali Ferryghat and Badarpur. On Thursday, he visited Mirzagonj and addressed several street corner rallies, seeking people's support in the coming election.

Front ranking local leaders including Mirzagonj Jubo League vice-president Abul Kashem and AL leaders Kabir Khan and Habibur Rahman were present at the rallies.

Central Krishak League leader Prof Gazi Delwar Hossain told newsmen at the press club Thursday night, "I am also in the polls race. I will seek nomination but would work for the party nominee."

Central Krishak League leader Khondakar Shamsul Haq Reza, local leaders Khairul Ahsan, Ismail Khan, Abul Kalam Fakir, Kajal Baran Das were present at the press conference.

Advocate Sultan Ahmed Mridha, district AL leader and former Patuakhali municipality chairman, has also launched mass contact in the area, saying he would be seeking nomination.

"The 14 party alliance will lose this seat (Patuakhali-1) if Shahjahan Mia is nominated. He has became unpopular for his nepotism and inefficiency during his tenure (1996-2001)," he said.

"Most leaders and activists of the party are unhappy with Shahjahan Mia and Khan Mosharrof Hossain as they could not arrange council meeting for 10 years," he added. Khan Mosharrof Hossain is secretary of Patuakhali district AL.

Central AL assistant secretary Afzal Hossain is also engaged in mass contact in the area.

Central organising secretary of JSD Habibur Rahman Shawkat has launched an allout campaign, holding rallies, street corner meetings and moving door to door, political circle said.

Party insiders said, most party leaders and activists are not happy with Shahjahn as he could not help them in last 5 years when they were harassed by ruling BNP men.

Contacted by this correspondent, Shajahan refuted all the allegations. "I am still popular in my constituency. I implemented many development projects in Sadar, Mirzagonj and Dumki upazilas during the tenure of AL government from 1996 to 2001.

Those who are criticising me are newcomers in the party and do not have any base among grass roots level party workers, he claimed.

This correspondent talked to many local AL leaders regarding the intra-party feud and pre-polls scenario. They include Sadar upazila AL secretary Forkan Sikder, Dumki upazila president Anwar Hossain Howlader, district AL leader Abdur Rashid Badal and Swapan Banerjee.

They said industrialist Shahjahan Mia is an honest and popular leader.

He has a large number of supporters in the three upazilas, they claimed.

But many party leaders believe that the feud over nomination may shatters 14-party alliance's hope in Patuakhali-1.