Jaldhaka Municipal Poll
Jamaat joins hands with AL to defeat its 'old rival'
By-election to Jaldhaka municipality, scheduled for June 29, has taken an interesting turn as Jamaat-e-Islami joined hands with Awami League and Jatiya Party (Ershad) to support 'Nagorik Committee' (citizens' body) candidate Ilyas Hossain Bablu.
The unusual unity aims at defeating young candidate Fahmid Faisal, son of late Jaldhaka mayor Anwarul Kabir Chowdhury. The seat fell vacant following his death on April 3.
Ilyas Hossain Bablu of Nagorik Committee, supported by all prominent political parties, and independent candidate Fahmid Faisal, backed by a BNP faction, are in the race for mayoral post.
Before being re-elected mayor for the second time in January 12 election this year, late Anwarul Kabir Chowdhury, also the president of BNP Jaldhaka unit, was acquitted by the High Court in a rape and abduction case a few months back. Earlier, he was awarded life imprisonment in the case by a lower court.
After the lower court's verdict, Anwarul Kabir Chowdhury became a hated figure in Jaldhaka. But his acquittal in the case by the High Court led many voters to believe that he was innocent and a victim of Jamaat conspiracy.
The case was filed in 2005. Kabir's family said that filing of the case by a woman was a conspiracy by Jamaat-e-Islami to eliminate him from politics as he was preparing to seek four-party alliance nomination from Jaldhaka constituency. Jamaat got four-party nomination from the constituency in past two parliamentary elections.
Though Kabir's opponents including Jamaat launched a strong campaign against him in the municipal election on January 12, he was re-elected, defeating the rival candidate with a huge margin of votes.
After his sudden death, Kabir's supporters picked his only son Fahmid Faisal, a student of fashion design at a private university in Dhaka, as mayor candidate. A faction of BNP supported him.
On the contrary, major political parties, including Awami League, Jatiya Party, another faction of BNP, JSD(Inu), and Workers Party extended support to 'Nagorik Committee' candidate Ilyas Hossain Bablu. Later, Jamaat extended its support to him to eliminate supremacy of Kabir's family in the municipality.
Kabir's wife Farida Bagum termed Jamaat's support to Bablu an old game to ensure four-party alliance nomination for Jaldhaka parliamentary seat in the next JS election. Jamaat is worried that my son might also be their rival like his father, she said.
Contacted, upazila Jamaat chief Abdul Gani said mayoral election is a non-partisan election. “We have extended our support to Ilyas Hossain Bablu as he is an honest man."
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