Carpetbaggers?
It is a common practice for the leaders of political parties to stand for elections in as many as three constituencies. If they succeed in obtaining multiple seats, they have to retain one and surrender the others. This paves the way for by-elections, and in most cases other local candidates submit their nomination papers. In Bogra this year, two of the Opposition Leader's seats have fallen vacant and thus there will be two by-elections, as she has chosen to retain her seat in Feni.
The Awami League has chosen two veteran politicians of the party in Bogra who have been politically active here for decades. The BNP, on the other hand, have nominated the former Speaker , who hails from Panchagarh, and the law minister of the last BNP government, who was in prison until recently, and whose home district is Noakhali. How can such people understand the aspirations, or represent the interests, of their constituents in the Bogra area?
In the United States, arising out of the circumstances of the post Civil War period of reconstruction, people who were outsiders attempting to gain political office in areas to which they did not belong, or have connection with, were called "Carpetbaggers" .
This term derived from the carpet rolls in which they carried their belongings to their new area, and it carried unpleasant connotations. I believe we are now witnessing the emergence of a modern generation of Carpetbaggers in Bangladesh.
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