POBNEWS24, Dhaka Apr 29, 2024 : The ruling Awami League is in a multifaceted crisis centered on the upazila elections. First of all, the ministers and MPs do not obey the party instructions. Second, the party’s chain of command has broken down at the local level. Thirdly, politics of dilemma and division has started ahead of the upazila elections. As the election approaches, the heat, anxiety and fear of conflict are increasing. In the meantime, the country’s main political opposition BNP and like-minded parties have again announced programs on the streets. On the other hand, the distance between the partner parties with Awami League has also increased manifold. Awami League has no contact with them on political issues. Awami League wants to give importance to these issues from now on. According to the leaders of the party, there may be a tough road ahead in politics.
So all kinds of steps will be taken to stay united. The field of politics should not be Awami League vs Awami League – it will be closely watched. Special instructions are coming from Ganobhaban with these general issues. The leaders and workers of the party are now looking towards that. A meeting of the Awami League Executive Council will be held on April 30th at seven o’clock in the evening. The meeting will be held under the chairmanship of party president Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban. More than a dozen agendas have been kept in this meeting. Awami League President Sheikh Hasina banned family members and relatives of MP-ministers from being candidates in upazila elections.
At least 14 MP-state ministers and former ministers’ family members and relatives are candidates in the first phase, disobeying this directive of the party president. Relatives of many other MP-ministers are also in the field in the next phase of elections. MPs and their relatives are coming up with various excuses to save themselves. The responsible leaders of Awami League are embarrassed and angry. They are preparing a list of MP-ministers and their relatives who have disobeyed the instructions. All eyes are on Ganobhaban to know what decision will be made regarding the MP-ministers who have nominated their family members and relatives in the upazila elections by disobeying the instructions of the party president. Several central leaders of the party told this Correspondent that the party’s organizational discipline must be maintained. They became MP-ministers or central leaders of the party only with the favor of the party chief. They will not obey the President’s instructions – it cannot happen. Because of that, a tough decision has to be taken in the meeting of the highest policy-making forum of Awami League.
They said that the list of the relatives of MP-ministers who are contesting the upazila election has been prepared by disobeying the instructions of the party. They will present these before the party president on 30th April. They will take their next decision according to the instructions given by party president Sheikh Hasina in this regard. However, the party’s joint general secretary and organizational secretary, who did not want to reveal their names, said that due to various realities, Awami League will not take a strict stand against the ministers and MPs right now. No Minister-MP shall be expelled for violating such decision. They say that the Awami League president will keep this in mind, appropriate action will be taken against them in the future. They said, Awami League does not believe in the policy of expelling Dhala or immediately expelling him from the party if he violates a decision. Awami League in this regard follows the policy of upholding the moderate and structural process. In this context, Awami League’s organizing secretary Abu Saeed Al Mahmud Swapan told this Correspondent that almost all contemporary issues and organizational issues under the heading of contemporary national and international politics, organizational and miscellaneous topics are discussed in the agenda of the meeting of the executive parliament.
I think the recent issue will be discussion on helping to conduct free, fair and peaceful upazila elections and candidacy of close relatives of honorable ministers and parliamentarians. Hopefully, the Honorable Chairman will give his wise decision in the wake of the discussion. Those concerned said that the organizational secretaries of Awami League will give reports according to their divisions in the meeting on 30th April. Relatives of ministers-MPs have been candidates in some departments. And the context in which they are candidates will also be presented in the report of the organizing editors. After that, the responsible sources of Awami League confirmed that a ‘show cause notice’ may be issued against those who have taken such steps in violation of the party’s decision. However, they think that Sheikh Hasina will give special directions from the Ganabhaban meeting regarding the overall political situation and party situation of the country.
