Quit race or face action

The ruling Awami League has given its rebel candidates a 24-hour ultimatum to withdraw their candidacies.

The party has threatened them with tough organisational action in case of their failure to comply with the ultimatum.

The decision came at a meeting chaired by party president Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Gono Bhaban last night.

Party leaders Obaidul Quader, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Dipu Moni, Ahmed Hossain, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Abdus Sobhan Golap and Asim Kumar Ukil, among others, were present at the meeting.

Briefing reporters later on at the party president's Dhanmondi office, AL joint general secretary Hanif said, "If they refuse to withdraw candidacy by the stipulated time, the party will start taking organisational actions against them."

The last date of withdrawal of candidacy is December 13.

The AL took the rigid stance as the party leadership failed to dissuade 50 rebel candidates from withdrawing their candidacies, according to party sources.

The leaders at the meeting explained the current situation to the party chief and she then asked them to take action against them in line with the party constitution for breaching party discipline.

BNP-JAMAAT JOINT PARTICIPATION UNLIKELY

There is no possibility of reaching an understanding between the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami, a key component in the BNP-led 20-party alliance, over joint participation in the December 30 municipality polls, sources said.

Central leaders of BNP informed this to the party's organising secretaries at a meeting at Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office last night.

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, however, instructed the organising secretaries to talk with local Jamaat leaders to reach a consensus over selecting a single candidate where BNP candidate's nomination papers were declared void, meeting sources said.

Returning Officers have rejected nomination applications of 12 BNP mayoral candidates on different grounds.

Top leaders of the 20-party alliance on November 26 decided to participate in the municipality polls with a single candidate under the banner of the alliance.

"We wanted to lend support to Jamaat-backed candidates in eight to ten municipalities. But they didn't give us any list yet. We have heard that they demanded the alliance's support to 40 of their mayoral candidates," said Mohammad Shajahan, joint secretary general of BNP, who was present at the meeting.

At the meeting, Fakhrul handed over the list of the party's mayoral candidates to the organising secretaries and instructed them to tame the party's rebel mayoral aspirants in around 25 municipalities.