AL suspends municipal poll rebels

The ruling Awami League yesterday suspended party rebels who took part in the last municipality elections, and sent them show cause notices, asking why they should not be expelled.

The rebel candidates were asked to respond within 15 days.

Around 60 dissidents contested for the mayoral post ignoring party decision, and 19 of them won.

Insiders said the decision was taken to bring discipline in the party and warn aspirants in the upcoming Union Parishad (UP) elections, which are scheduled to start in late March. Party leaders think they might face a serious setback in selecting single chairman candidates in 4,500 UPs for rebels.

AL Organising Secretary Ahmod Hossain said, "After getting responses from the rebel candidates, we will submit those at the party's next central working committee meeting and their fate will be decided there."

The AL central working committee took the decision on January 9, and also asked the divisional level organising secretaries to investigate the role of local party lawmakers and grassroots leaders who had backed the dissidents in the elections.

The party will serve show-cause notices to the lawmakers based on the investigation reports.

"We were asked to submit investigation reports within 15 days. We are working on it and hope that it would be completed in a week," another organising secretary, Misbah Uddin Siraj, told The Daily Star.

The AL leaders initially identified 23 party lawmakers who had backed rebel candidates and of them Golam Rabbani, MP, of Chapainawabganj-1, has already been suspended from the party.

The party started sending the show cause notices after a meeting of joint general secretaries and organising secretaries at the AL president's Dhanmondi office yesterday, with presidium member Obaidul Quader in the chair.