UZ poll candidacy triggers feud in Pabna AL, BNP

3 January 2009, 18:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Pabna

Candidature of several candidates from both Awami League and BNP for the same posts in almost every upazilas of the district has given rise to internal feuds in the local leadership of the two major political parties. At least 67 candidates are contesting for the posts of upazila chairmen in nine upazilas of the district while the total number of contestants including for the posts of vice chairmen in the nine upazila are 157. As a way out, AL central leadership has instructed the district unit of the party to select the candidates for the posts of upazila chairmen and vice chairmen through the opinion of the grassroots level leaders. Local BNP leaders, on the other hand, are yet to get any instruction from party central committee in this regard, sources said. At least eight candidates including six leaders of AL are contesting for the post of UZ chairman in Pabna Sadar upazila, sources said. The president and the secretary of Pabna Sadar upazila AL and vice president of district unit AL are among them. Twelve candidates are contesting for chairmanship in Chatmohar upazila. Of them, eight are AL leaders including president and secretary of Chatmohar upazila unit AL. Three BNP leaders including the president of Chatmohar upazila unit BNP and the immediate past lawmaker and a Jatiya Party leader are also contesting here for the post. In Sujanagar upazila, 11 candidates are contesting for UZ chairman. Six of them are AL leaders while the five others belong to BNP. In Vangura upazila, six candidates are contesting for UZ chairman -- four of them are BNP leaders and two others are AL leaders. In Atghoria upazila, five candidates are contesting for chairmanship. Two of them are AL leaders. In Faridpur upazila, six candidates, including two AL leaders and two BNP leaders, are contesting for UZ chairman. Of the seven candidates for chairmanship in Ishwardi upazila, five are upzila unit AL leaders including its president, secretary and a vice president. A BNP leader and a JP leader are also contesting for the post. In Santhia upazila upazila, upazila unit AL secretary and upazila unit BNP secretary are the two contestants for the chairman post. In Bera upazila, 10 candidates are contesting for the upazila chairman post. They include three front ranking leaders of upazila unit of AL, three BNP leaders including the president and the secretary of upazila unit BNP and the secretary of its district unit. A Workers Party leader is also a contestant for the post. In every upazila of the district, several candidates from major political parties are also contesting for the posts of two vice chairmen including the one for women. It shows signs of growing intra-party feud over candidature in the upcoming upazila elections. However, Awami League is in a much better position as the party central leadership has already instructed the district unit AL to select the candidates through the opinion from grassroots. “We are hopeful that after selecting the candidates through the grassroots leaders opinion AL leaders at all level in every upazilas would work for them. So there wil be no problem,” Vice president of district unit AL, Rejaur Rahim Lal told this correspondent yesterday. “It is true that several candidates are fighting for the same post in most of the upazilas in the district. It may create intra party feud. In absence of any decision from the central leadership, we are trying to manage things locally,” Md Habibur Rahman Tota, secretary of Pabna district unit BNP told this correspondent over phone yesterday.