Saturday, December 4, 2010

Feud intensifies in Khulna BNP

As per a directive of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, Khulna City BNP convenor of Shaharuzzaman Martuza in a press statement yesterday withdrew his September 20 statement in which he informed the media that party bigwigs M Nurul Islam and Nazrul Islam Manju were expelled from the district committee.

Nurul Islam is founder president of BNP in Khulna and Nazrul Islam Manju is its Khulna city general secretary.

The BNP supremo had asked Martuza to issue a fresh statement by this evening (Monday evening) as the September 20 statement was issued by him 'without any consultation with the party high command' party sources said.

Dogged by internal feud, intra-party rivalry and squabbles between the two factions of Khulna BNP have taken an alarming turn following expulsion and counter-expulsion by rivals.

One faction is loyal to former lawmaker M Nurul Islam Dadu and Nazrul Islam Manju. Dadu, founder president of Khulna city BNP, held the post till it was dissolved in December 2006.

Nazrul Islam Manju also held the post of general secretary of city Committee from 1990 till it was dissolved by the central committee in 2006.

The other faction is loyal to convicted former city mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and former lawmaker Ali Asgar Lobi.

Ali Asgar Lobi was made convenor of the city convening committee with Shaharuzzaman Martuza as its member-secretary after the earlier city committee was dissolved by BNP central committee, reportedly without consent of Begum Zia.

On Sunday, the faction loyal to Nurul Islam and Nazrul Islam Manju held a meeting at the party office. M Nurul Islam Dadu presided over the meeting which unanimously decided to expel convicted former mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, Ali Asgar Lobi, BNP district committee president Prof Majidul Islam and Shaharuzzaman Martuza, who is member secretary of the city convening committee and also president of Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

It was alleged in this meeting that the four persons were involved in activities that tarnished the image of Khulna BNP and 'conspiracy' against Begum Khaleda Zia since the one-eleven.

Speakers at the meeting alleged that Martuza had been maintaining close links with the present caretaker government to hide his alleged misdeeds including extortion and other criminal activities during four-party alliance rule.

Apart from Sunday's meeting in the party office, Nurul Islam Dadu-Manju faction also held a press conference at 11-30 am today (Monday) at Khulna Press Club.

M. Nurul Islam Dadu told the press conference that the city convening committee was illegal as it was not approved by party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. So, Martuza has no right to claim to be its member-secretary and issue any press statement on organisational matters.

Nurul Islam Dadu also alleged in the press conference that Martuza harboured criminals and was still involved in corruption as KCCI president.

Khulna BNP was virtually divided into two factions following nominations in 1996 parliamentary elections.

One faction was led by Mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and ex-lawmaker Ali Asgar Lobi while the other by ex-lawmaker M Nurul Islam Dadu and Nazrul Islam Manju.

Intra-party squabbles intensified as Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and Prof Majidul Islam were not given nomination to contest the 2001 parliamentary election from Khulna-2 and Khulna-4 constituencies.

Meanwhile, Begum Zia sent a message on Sunday through central acting office secretary Rizvi Ahmed asking both factions of Khulna BNP to bury differences and work together.

No comments:

Post a Comment

InfoLinks