Jamaat 'defector' joins Rajshahi AL

A Jamaat-e-Islami leader, who claimed to have defected from its Bagmara upazila unit in Rajshahi, and around 100 of his followers joined the unit of Awami League (AL) yesterday, drawing flak from the ruling party's local leaders.

"I love the ideologies and activities of Awami League...I would like to be with the party till my last breath...I have no other intention," said Maolana Nurul Islam, the former general secretary and rokon (permanent member) and a teacher of Bhawaniganj Fajil Madrasa.

Welcoming them with wreaths at a press conference in the upazila headquarters' Bangabandhu Museum, Senior Vice President Motiur Rahman said there were many "good people" in Jamaat.

"We enquired about him...They will not create any problem," he added.