The ruling Awami League (AL) has asked all AL-backed mayoral candidates, presidents and secretaries of Rajshahi, Barisal, Khulna and Sylhet city corporations to send reports, mentioning the reasons behind their debacle in the recent polls, to the party chief. After receiving the reports, the party high command will evaluate the reasons and seek ways to plug the loopholes for the next parliamentary election. The AL joint secretary, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, told The Independent that they have already instructed the presidents and secretaries of the four metropolitan cities, as well as the mayoral candidates, to prepare such reports and send them over to the party chief as soon as possible. “We’ll try to find out why our candidates failed to get votes. We’ll also try to detect our faults after getting the reports,” he added.
Hanif, also a special assistant to the Prime Minister, said they will correct the mistakes and reinforce the party organisation to prepare for the next parliamentary poll.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also president of the Bangladesh Awami League, asked her cabinet colleagues at the cabinet meeting on Monday to investigate the reasons behind the failure in the mayoral polls. A minister said this to reporters after the meeting.
Hasina has also advised her ministers to pay more attention to public relations and increase their contact with the people of their respective constituencies to revamp the Awami League vote-bank, said the minister.
The minister told reporters that the Premier has also discussed BNP leader Moudud Ahmed’s statement in Parliament on Sunday. Moudad had called for immediate resignation of the government and restoration of the caretaker government system to hold the next parliamentary election.
One of the AL-backed mayoral candidates, Talukder Abdul Khaleque, also president of the Khulna Metropolitan City AL, told The Independent that his defeat in the city corporation poll could be attributed to the emergence of the Hefazat-e Islam, death sentence of Jammat leader Delwar Hossain Syedee, religious fanaticism, organisational weakness and non-cooperation and betrayal of local grassroots party activists.
“I’m going to Dhaka on June 20 to meet the party chief. I’ll inform her of the reasons behind our defeat. I’ll also suggest appropriate measures, so that we can prepare better for the next parliamentary poll,” he added.
Barisal Metropolitan Awami League secretary Afzal Hossain said their mayoral candidate had lost the poll even after initiating a lot of development work. He attributed the defeat to internal strife, propaganda in the name of Islam, and Hefazat-related issues.
“We’ve received the message to prepare a report. We’ve called a meeting of our local leaders and workers on Tuesday to know their views,” he added.
On June 15, all the AL-backed candidates lost the mayoral polls in four metropolitan cities.
-With The Independent input
