Local leaders’ inaction causes BNP’s debacle

Inaction of local leaders, fear of political persecution, ‘wrong choice’ for mayoral candidate and popularity of rival contestant were the major reasons for debacle of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the Narayanganj mayoral polls, party leaders observed.
Most of the local BNP leaders and activists were either inactive or reluctant to work dedicatedly for party-nominated mayoral candidate Sakhawat Hossain Khan as they did not endorse the nomination as was unfamiliar to them, said central and local leaders.
Their inaction was reflected on the polling day as BNP leaders and activists were not seen to mobilise and cooperating with voters at a number of polling stations. 
Even no election camps were set up for Sakhawat at many polling stations to help voters to match their national identity card with the voter list and to show polling booths, according to voters and witnesses.
‘Our mayoral candidate was new in politics, unknown and had no contribution to the recent anti-government movement…BNP leaders and activists in Narayanganj did not choose the bridegroom [candidate]’ an influential leader of Narayanganj BNP told New Age on Saturday.
Top-level leaders of BNP and its allies including BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had carried out hectic campaign for Sakhawat taking into account the popularity of ruling Awami League candidate Selina Hayat Ivy, the party leaders said. 
Ivy was elected the first Naryanganj city mayor in a landslide victory for five years in 2011 defeating AL candidate Shamim Osman, now the local AL lawmaker, while BNP boycotted the election halfway through polling.
BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, also the chief coordinator of BNP’s electioneering in the elections to Narayangan City Corporation, said that BNP had to take lesson from the results of the city polls.
BNP has to find out whether any ‘evil tactics’ were used in the election, he said.
Goyeshwar said that BNP had to know whether anything happened in the dark and from that the party should determine its strategy.
Many BNP activists and supporters also cast vote for Ivy for her ability to fight against supremacy of local AL lawmaker Shamim Osman, her honesty and to allow her to complete unfinished development works she initiated during her immediate-past tenure, and because of fear that if the BNP mayoral candidate was elected, he might become victim of political persecution and had to languish in jail, the party leaders said.
Narayanganj district BNP president Taimur Alam Khandaker, also the coordinator of electioneering at Narayanganj sadar , said that they had to have contested the poll in an adverse situation.
He claimed that votes bagged by Sakhawat were the vote of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.
BNP national executive committee member Rafiq Sikder, who carried out electioneering along with other central leaders from Dhaka, said that it would have been be better had the mayoral candidate was selected by the grassroots leaders.
He alleged that Jamaat-e-Islami did not cast their vote for Sakhawat.
Rafiq said that ordinary voters cast vote for Ivy for development as they had experienced that BNP-backed mayors had to go to jail.  

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