Ministers and MPs who incited rebel candidates for the post of chairman in the Union Parishad (UP) elections will not be nominated by the Awami League. This decision will be strictly followed during the nomination of party candidates in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has clearly reiterated the party’s decision. He also directed the party’s general secretary and road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader to compile a list of ministers and MPs who had incited rebel candidates in the UP elections.
Some members of the presidium of the party told Samakal on Sunday that the work of compiling the list of leaders inciting the rebel candidates will start on January 10, the day of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic return home. Eight organizational editors will prepare this list.
The results of the UP elections were discussed in detail at the adjourned meeting of the Awami League’s Local Government Representative Nomination Board at Ganobhaban on Saturday night. At this time the issue of the negative role of the leaders in inciting the rebel candidates in various ways in a significant number of unions came up.
The five policy-making leaders who attended the meeting told Samakal that Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had informed them of the party’s decision on the leaders who had incited the rebel candidates. He said MPs inciting rebellious candidates in the UP elections would not be nominated by the Awami League in the 12th parliamentary elections.
The Prime Minister directed the party’s general secretary Obaidul Quader to compile a list of provoked MPs. He also urged the party to seek the help of eight organizational secretaries in this regard. At the time, Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said work on the list of provocative leaders would begin after Bangabandhu’s repatriation day on January 10.
Some top leaders of the Awami League have said that despite the mass expulsion from the party, many rebel candidates are not being handled in any way. This has created an embarrassing situation in many places. In some unions, the allegations of grassroots nomination trade are shocking, even if there are mistakes or complications in the selection of candidates. Moreover, many leaders at the local level have opposed the party nominee. As a result, the party candidates have been humiliated by the rebel candidates. Behind all this is the provocation of some MPs.
This has also been discussed in the meeting of the executive parliament of the party. However, some of the accused MPs said that the Awami League’s candidature was open in various places including Shariatpur and Madaripur in the UP elections. After that, several MPs also requested to keep the candidature open in their constituencies. But there was no positive response. Again, many MPs are in trouble as the leaders of their choice are not nominated by the party. At one point they were forced to support the rebel candidate.
However, the Awami League is quite satisfied with the number of votes received so far in the UP elections. In this regard, it has been said that the popularity of Awami League has increased more than before. So far, only Awami League-backed candidates have won. Most of the winners as independent candidates are also Awami League supporters. However, the party’s preliminary analysis suggests that the rebel candidates would have had more positive results if they had not had the support of local MPs.
Earlier, in a meeting of the central executive parliament on November 19, the issue of exposing the rebel candidates was discussed in detail. Then the finger was pointed at the MPs who were indirectly exposed for the fruit disaster. The meeting was told that some of the top leaders of several districts, including MPs, had exposed the rebel candidates. A member of the cabinet (who is also a member of the party’s presidium) has also been accused of supporting the rebel candidate. The minister is an MP from Mymensingh division.
Three other cabinet members from Barisal, Rangpur and Mymensingh divisions have also been accused of opposing the Awami League candidate. There are similar allegations against several other cabinet members
Some members of the party’s secretariat said that in many cases it was not possible to take disciplinary action against the rebel candidates. Despite repeated instructions from the center, some district leaders have remained silent on taking action against the rebel candidates for mysterious reasons. In this case, the allegation of nomination trade has come to the forefront of the discussion.
Meanwhile, there has been a backlash among the leaders and activists over the role of the MPs in exposing the results of the party candidates and the rebellious candidates in the UP elections. The clear allegations of the local level leaders and activists against some of the MPs of the party are that those MPs are indifferent towards the rebel candidates or some of them are completely indifferent towards them to avoid the situation.
