Sunamganj BNP factions clash at party rally
The opposition BNP's protest rally at Derai upazila headquarters in Sunamganj district remained suspended for half an hour yesterday afternoon due to a clash between two factions.
Five people, including Rafinagar Union BNP President Omar Faruque, were injured during the clash that took place in presence of the central Joint Secretary Mohammad Shahjahan who attended the rally as the chief guest.
The trouble began at around 3:30pm when former whip of the Jatiya Sangsad and Sunamganj district BNP President Fazlul Haque Aspia and General Secretary Dr Rafique Chowdhury along with their supporters reached the meeting venue at Thana Point.
As Aspia and Rafiq tried to take seats on the dais, activists of another faction backed by former district BNP vice-president and former lawmaker Nasir Uddin Chowdhury prevented him and locked in a scuffle with their rivals. However, the meeting started again at 4:00pm as central Joint Secretary Shahjahan and other leaders pacified the activists of both factions.
Aspia took shelter at nearby Zakaria Hotel for about one and a half hours and then left the area along with his supporters.
Derai BNP President Abdul Quddus, also the upazila parishad chairman, chaired the meeting. Addressing the rally, Central Joint Secretary Shahjahan held some party men responsible for the incident. "They tried to foil the rally at the instigation of the ruling tried," he claimed, adding that action will be taken against the troublemakers. Nasir Uddin Chowdhury and others also spoke.
In the evening, both factions held separate meetings. Aspia and his men sat at the house of former upazila unit president Abdus Shahid Chowdhury and strongly condemned the incident. Nasiruddin Chowdhury and his supporters also held a meeting at the upazila BNP office.
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