AL nominees unite to face deprived party men

All the six Awami League (AL) nominees from Rajshahi constituencies yesterday showed up together to counter Friday's meeting of nomination-deprived party men, making the intra-party feud over nomination public.
The candidates at a press conference at Rajshahi city AL office under the banner of Rajshahi district Awami Leageue claimed that they are stronger than their rival faction.
Rajshahi district AL secretary Omar Faruk Chowdhury conducted the conference.
They promised that they would not spend money beyond the limit fixed by the Election Commission. They claimed that they would be able to recover all the Jatiya Sangsad seats in Rajshahi retained by BNP-Jamaat in last three elections.
On Friday, the banner of district AL was also used at the press conference of the deprived candidates. Led by district AL president Tajul Islam M Faruk, the deprived candidates demanded that the party high command should evaluate party men and place politicians over businessmen in deciding nomination.
At yesterday's press conference, Omar Faruk Chowdhury said, “The party nominations suggest that we are in the right way and stronger than our opponents”.
Chowdhury who got AL ticket from Rajshahi-1 (Tanore-Godagari) said, “We honour the agony of deprivation, yet the deprived leaders should honour the party's decision”.
Among the six AL nominees, three were introduced as industrialists in the press conference. They are Enamul Haque of Rajshahi-4 (Bagmara), Kazi Abdul Wadud Dara of Rajshahi-5 (Puthia-Durgapur) and Shahriar Alam of Rajshahi-6 (Bagha-Charghat).
Mohila Awami League central vice-president Akhtar Jahan and former acting president of Rajshahi district AL Meraj Mollah, who got tickets for Rajshahi-2 and Rajshahi-3 respectively, were also present at the conference.
Asked about political identity of the three industrialist candidates, Chowdhury said, “Since they have been given the party tickets, they are politicians.”
Journalists asked the industrialists how they would campaign without having any political background. They said they would not spend money more than the limit fixed by the EC. They said they would win by campaigning door-to-door.

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