Oust-govt movement from Ctg if polls rigged
Hasina warns
Staff Correspondent, Ctg
Leader of the Opposition and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina has urged people of the port city to give a befitting reply to the 'misrule' of the present government through ballots in the May 9 Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) polls in favour of the Nagorik Committee-backed candidate ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury. She warned the government against any attempts to manipulate the election and said if vote rigging takes place, a vigorous oust-government programme will start from Chittagong. The AL chief said these while addressing four workers-and-public meetings here on Sunday at the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) intersection, Olonkar Cinema intersection, Old Railway Station and Bohaddarhat. The meetings were organised by May Dibash Udjapan Parishad to mark the May Day but they turned into election-gatherings, each drawing around 40,000 people, mostly workers and party supporters. "I have come to know that the ruling alliance mayoral candidate is spending crores of taka to buy votes. His supporters will try to cast fake votes in alliance-dominated areas and create disorder to prevent voters from coming to polling centres," she said. She called upon the party leaders, activists and others to resist any such bids to disrupt fair polling and take photograph of such happenings. Hasina termed Mohiuddin Chowdhury, also incumbent CCC mayor, a tested leader and friend of the people of Chittagong. "He has proved his ability as mayor of Chittagong and made remarkable progress in the fields of education, health and environment. To keep the pace of development going, there is no alternative to him," the AL president said. On alliance candidate Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, also state minister for civil aviation and tourism, Hasina said he has proved a complete failure to run the ministry. " How can he run a corporation properly?" she questioned. Referring to the death of two labourers in police shootout in Chittagong, she termed the BNP government enemy of workers community. Mohiuddin Chowdhury asked his supporters to keep guard with a stick in hand to resist polls rigging. Others who addressed the meetings included AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil and central leaders Amir Hossain Amu, Motia Chowdhury, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, Obaidul Kader, and Asaduzzaman Noor and local leaders Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu, Mosharraf Hossain, Ishaq Meah and MA Mannan.
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