Fading Ershad charm, multiple candidates may help BNP
Rakib Hasnet Suman
Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman HM Ershad’s waning popularity in the greater Rangpur area and Awami League’s (AL) continuing indifference to its leaders’ electoral rivalry with JP nominees there despite being partners in an electoral alliance, have brought new hopes for BNP-led four-party alliance nominees in the area.
Four-party alliance’s chances are also boosted by the fact that in past elections JP nominations kept changing in the constituencies of what was once known as ‘the fortress of JP’ led by the former dictator. Some of the recent rebellions within the party were also attributed to that fact.
Ershad first emerged as the most popular leader of the area, which is also his home district, in 1991 parliamentary election, just after he had been overthrown from the seat of power through a mass upsurge following his nine-year autocratic rule of the country.
In that election JP won 35 seats in the parliament while Ershad alone won 5 seats of Rangpur district from jail. But in the 1996 election the party started to lose seats.
In 1996, JP won 32 seats in the parliament including 21 of the 22 seats of greater Rangpur area comprising Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Kurigram and Gaibandha districts, and 13 of the 14 seats it won in 2001 election were of the area.
In 2001, AL and four-party alliance each won in 4 constituencies there, while in 1996 none of them could win a single seat of the area.
This year, four-party alliance leaders are hoping to win more seats of the area as Ershad’s popularity is fading there, and since in a few constituencies conflicts are flaring up between AL and JP nominees despite being partners in the grand electoral alliance.
Jamaat-e-Islami, a key component of the four-party alliance, also has strong organisational base and support in a few of the constituencies in Nilphamari and Gaibandha. It even won a Nilphamari seat in 1996, and won in one constituency in each of the two districts in 2001.
Rahim Uddin Bhorosha, president of Rangpur district unit BNP, told The Daily Star last night that four-party alliance hopes to win in 10 constituencies of the area including 2 seats of Rangpur district.
This year JP leaders Joynul Abedin Sarker, Anwarul Islam, and Mohammad Ali Sarker are contesting in the poll as independent candidates in Lalmonirhat-1, Rangpur-1 and Rangpur-2 respectively, while three of their party colleagues are their rivals as grand alliance nominees.
Anisul Islam Mahmud, acting chairman of JP, told The Daily Star last night that JP leaders will win the upcoming poll as grand alliance nominees in the area because Ershad is still loved there.
He said the intra-alliance conflict that is plaguing a few constituencies of the area will be resolved soon making way for the alliance’s victory there.
But some other JP leaders fear that frequent changes in party nominees in the area’s constituencies over the years had a negative impact on the voters.
In 1996, JP nominee Ahsan Ahmed won in Nilphamari-2, but in 2001 Ershad’s new nominee Joynal Abedin failed to win the seat. This year, grand alliance nominated AL leader Asaduzzaman Nur in that constituency.
In Rangpur-1, Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu and Moshiur Rahman Ranga won the elections with JP tickets in 1996 and 2001 respectively, but this year Ershad nominated Mokbul Hossain Sharier there.
At least in 11 constituencies of the greater Rangpur area this year the JP chairman nominated people who had not contested in the last election, giving rise to resentments and fissures among the party’s rank and file.
The constituencies are Nilphamari-1, 3 and 4, Rangpur-1, 2, 3 and 5, Kurigram-2 and 3, and Gaibandha-1 and 4.
Meanwhile, contestants from JP are also facing challenges in the area from contestants of their alliance partner AL, although AL officially conceded the constituencies to JP.
Col (retd) Maruf Saqlain of AL and Shawkat Chowdhury of JP both are contesting in Nilphamari-4, Tipu Munshi of AL and Karim Uddin Bhorosha of JP are facing each other in Rangpur- 4, Ashiqur Rahman of AL and Fakhar-uz-Zaman of JP both are vying for the same seat of Rangpur-5, Zakir Hossain of AL and Golam Habib Dulal of JP are fighting for the same seat in Kurigram-4, Monowar Hossain Chwodhury of AL and Ali Mahbub Talukder of JP are fighting each other in Gaibandha-4, while Fazle Rabbi of AL and Roushan Ershad of JP are rendered rivals in Gaibandah-5 despite being partners in the grand alliance.
Contestants from JP will surely face problems in the area if the AL nominees do not withdraw their candidacies, said JP insiders.
Moreover, AL leaders Sheikh Hasina, Asaduzzaman Nur, Motahar Hossain, and Mahbub Ara Gini are also contesting as grand alliance nominees in Rangpur-6, Nilphamari-2, Lalmonirhat-1, and Gaibandha-2 respectively.
JP leaders said they are trying to convince the AL leadership to persuade their other party members into withdrawing candidacies in the greater Rangpur area. Ershad himself talked to AL leaders about the problem.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
