A crucial meeting between the Awami League and its 14-party allies ended last night without any concrete decisions on seat sharing.
At the meeting, held at the AL organising secretary Mirza Azam’s office in parliament, participants could not reach a consensus over the withdrawal of “AL independents” who would compete against AL partners.
Frustrated by what they said was the AL dilly-dallying over resolving the seat-sharing issue and keeping partners hanging, the other 14-party alliance leaders said they would make polls-related decisions on their own, said meeting sources.
The AL will make its partners wait until December 17, the deadline for withdrawal from the race, to finalise the number of seats it will give to its partners.
During last night’s meeting, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) President Hasanul Haq Inu asked the AL delegation to make it clear how many seats the ruling party wants to share with them, said sources.
The two leaders also asked the AL team not to leave them hanging. If the AL does not want to share seats with them, then they would have to reconsider their decision to join polls after consulting their party colleagues.
Inu told the meeting that if the AL decided not to share, then his party would field one candidate as a symbol of participation and the rest would withdraw. Menon said his party leaders would decide whether to take part in the polls, said sources.
AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader assured them that the AL would run under the 14-party banner and would not have any other alliance.
He said the main opposition Jatiya Party would run on its own with the “plough” electoral symbol.
He urged the 14-party partners to wait until December 17 for AL’s final decision over seat sharing.
Quader told the meeting that the AL decided to allow its leaders to run as independents to make the election more participatory and have a better turnout.
Tarikat Federation Chairman Syed Najibul Bashar Maizbhandari insisted that seat sharing for top leaders of the 14-party alliance should be immediately settled. The decision on the rest of the seats could be made later, he said.
According to sources, Inu then told the meeting that AL candidates have already started campaigning but the alliance leaders are still in the dark about their fate and are unprepared.
Menon said he collected nomination papers for two seats in Barishal and that he does not know from where he would run.
Inu raised the issue of “AL independents” and said it would be tough for alliance leaders to win if they ran.
Quader said as the 14-party candidates would run with the “boat” symbol, the AL would ensure its partners’ victory, said meeting insiders.
Inu said the “AL independents” would be problems not only for them but many AL-nominated candidates.
According to sources, at the beginning of the meeting, Quader expressed annoyance over the partners’ demand for so many seats.
He told them that they were demanding 30 seats but surveys show that the partners were not able to put up a decent fight even.
Jatiya Party (JP-Manju) Anwar Hossain Manju then questioned the legitimacy of the AL’s surveys, said meeting insiders.
Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Dilip Barua demanded a constituency for himself. 14-party coordinator Amir Hossain Amu then questioned his party’s popularity.
BSD convener Rezaur Rashid Khan also demanded one seat for his party. The AL leaders at the meeting asked him to prove his popularity first.
At the end of the meeting, Amu asked AL’s partners to have faith in Sheikh Hasina and that she would make logical decisions on seat sharing.
