‘Rifts in Awami League’: Ctg ward councils postponed

The ward-level councils of Chattogram city Awami League, which was supposed to begin today, have been postponed at the last moment due to "intra-party rifts".

AL's central committee took the decision after several party leaders raised allegations against a top leader of the city unit, according to sources.

This correspondent spoke to a number of AL leaders in the central and city committees, who pointed to intra-party rivalry for the postponement.

AL's 41 ward committees in the city have three organisational units on average. Out of the total 129 organisational units, the formation of the councils of 93 units have already finished.

It was decided in a recent meeting of AL's working committee that ward-level councils would be held after holding meetings at the unit level.

In the meantime, a number of AL leaders lodged complaints with the central committee regarding violation of instructions of the party's constitution.

According to sources, the AL city unit has three factions at present. One is a follower of AL city unit general secretary and former Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) mayor AJM Nasir Uddin; another follows AL city unit vice president and former administrator of CCC Khorshed Alam Sujan; and the other one follows deputy minister for education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel.

The leaders loyal to Sujan and Nowfel filed complaints with the central committee, saying that the unit committees have been formed, violating the party constitution. They are being formed to make committees loyal to a specific leader, alleged sources in AL.

Contacted, Badiul Alam, joint secretary of AL's city unit, said during formation of organisational unit committees, it was seen that a special form, made locally, was provided for new membership, and those who became members through the forms later on became councillors for the ward-level councils as well.

"It is violating the party constitution. The central committee gave forms for primary membership, and there is no scope to provide locally-made forms," he said.

"After the complaints, the councils got postponed," he said.

Contacted, Sujan said, "Some leaders in Chattogram are trying to run the city unit like it's their private property. No leader can violate the party constitution."

AJM Nasir could not be contacted for comments.

Contacted, AL joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said they received some complaints over forming unit committees.

"A misunderstanding occurred among leaders, and so a central delegation team would go to Chattogram to sit with them on January 8 to resolve the issues," he said.

"The ward-level councils will be held after consulting with all the leaders in Chattogram," he added.