Hasina visits Ctg today to end party infighting

The former prime minister is visiting the port city for the first time in nearly two years since the last parliamentary elections in October 2001.

Hasina will address a public meeting at the Laldighi Maidan tomorrow. Besides, she is expected to meet separately with leaders of the three units of Chittagong AL and the different professional bodies, party sources said.

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Observers and some party men see her visit as a move to put the party units in order and rekindle the morale of the rank and file after its debacle in the last parliamentary elections. The AL won only two (Raozan and Fatikchhari) of 15 parliamentary seats in Chittagong. The party had fared better in the 1996 elections when it won five seats including one from the city (Kotwali).

Hasina may also sit with some top-ranking leaders of the party's three units in the city, and north and south districts in an effort to help defuse tensions due to internecine feuds developed since the election debacle two years ago.

Sources said the city unit of the AL is having problems due to a long-standing hostility between City Mayor and General Secretary of City AL ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury and AZM Nasiruddin. The situation in south district, particularly in Patiya upazila, is worse.

The three units yesterday held a joint preparatory meeting at the Muslim Hall Institute on the eve of Hasina's visit.