Cornered BNP vs upbeat AL

With polls to three city corporations only a month away, archrivals Awami League and BNP are in contrasting moods. While the ruling AL is preparing to launch its campaign on full throttle, opposition BNP finds itself in a difficult situation.

The BNP camp is in a dilemma about its campaign plan, as many of its men are on the run to avoid arrest. Its leaders from top to bottom face numerous cases filed against them over the last four-five years. Many BNP leaders, including its acting secretary general, are behind bars.

Mayoral aspirants in the capital Abdul Awal Mintoo, an adviser to BNP chief Khaleda Zia, and Abdus Salam, treasure of the party, themselves stand accused in several cases over street violence.

Moreover, the party's central office at Nayapaltan has remained locked since January 5. 

Some senior BNP leaders fear that the prevailing situation will appear as a big challenge for them to campaign for their mayoral hopefuls in the elections to the three city corporations -- two in Dhaka and one in Chittagong.

'WE'RE IN TROUBLE'

To seek relief, the BNP on Wednesday sent a delegation to the Election Commission, insiders said.

The delegation of pro-BNP professionals at a meeting with the chief election commissioner had raised these issues, but did not get any positive response from the CEC, a delegation member told The Daily Star yesterday.

"The city polls will be a respite for our leaders and workers who have been staging agitations for long. If we can win the polls, it will inspire our leaders and workers to intensify the anti-government agitation," said Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, a BNP standing committee member.

"But we are in trouble because of the cases filed against our leaders. Many leaders facing cases may not be able to work freely for the party-backed mayoral candidates. We may even face difficulties finding polling agents due to the cases," he said.

Zafrullah Chowdhury, who was in the delegation, said the BNP must overcome these challenges. "The BNP should put pressure on the Election Commission so it prevents law enforcement agencies from harassing party leaders and workers during the election."

He said they requested the CEC to take steps to ensure the release of BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who has been behind bars since January 6.

"Fakhrul's release will give BNP leaders and activists a sense of security," Zafrullah added.

Mahbubur Rahman said: "We must bargain with the Election Commission on ensuring a level playing field and free movement of our leaders."   

Khandker Mahbub Hossain, an adviser to the BNP chief, however, hopes the BNP men who are on the run will appear in public once the campaign starts.

"If police harass our candidates and supporters during the election, we will get public sympathy for it," he said.

He added the BNP would keep putting pressure on the EC so that the police refrained from harassing BNP men during the city polls.

Meanwhile, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, yesterday said they would take legal action against the fugitive accused if they participated in the polls process without securing bails.

AL UPBEAT  

The AL camp is all smiles. The party is in power; its leaders have no worries about any cases. They are focusing on electioneering for their mayoral candidates.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the AL president, is personally monitoring the party's polls-related activities, sources said.

On Wednesday night, she held a meeting with Dhaka city AL leaders and instructed them to work for the party-backed mayor contenders in the April 28 city election. She is likely to sit with thana and ward-level AL leaders at Gono Bhaban today to boost the grassroots' morale.

Intelligence agencies have already prepared reports on the party's probable councillor candidates while the Dhaka city AL and its other front organisations submitted their own lists of aspirants to the party high command. The AL election coordinating committees would finalise names from the lists, added the sources.

Party insiders said Hasina may announce today the names of councillor candidates to be backed by her party in the 93 wards of the two Dhaka city corporations.

Besides, Chhatra League, AL's student wing, has moved to form committees for each of the 12,098 polling stations in the capital for campaigning for the AL-sponsored mayor aspirants.

Faruk Khan, international affairs secretary of the AL, said they were finalising the councillor candidates through discussions and considering their popularity and acceptability.

The party will pick one candidate from each ward, said Faruk, also chief of an election coordinating committee in the city.

Abul Basher, president of Ramna thana AL, said initially several councillor hopefuls had started campaigning, thinking the BNP would not run.

"Now the scenario has changed and the Awami League is serious about the polls and has made all-out efforts to select single candidates,” he said.

Golam Ashraf Talukder, president of Motijheel thana AL, said, "The party's main problem is infighting with city leaders. But if we all work together for the party-backed candidates, we can easily pull off victory."

In Chittagong, AL leaders are redesigning their polls strategies to take on incumbent Mayor M Manjur Alam Manju, who has been endorsed by local BNP as their mayor candidate.

Contacted, Ishak Miah, convener of the 501-member committee formed for running the AL-backed mayor contender AZM Nasir Uddin's election campaign, said, “We are united to work for the win of our candidate no matter who the BNP-backed candidate is.”

Meanwhile, Mahi B Chowdhury, joint secretary general of Bikolpo Dhara Bangladesh, yesterday collected nomination paper to run for mayor in Dhaka North City Corporation.

Sarwar Morshed, a supporter of Mahi, bought the form on his behalf.

As of yesterday, 50 mayor and 1,885 councillor aspirants bought nomination forms.