Jamaat-e-Islami, main alliance partner of the BNP, is preparing for the 3rd phase of the upazila election.
Nonetheless, BNP and Jamaat have failed to reconcile difference over selection of single candidate in many upazilas. BNP is trying for a compromise with its key ally to win majority chairman and vice-chairman posts in the third phase also, sources said.
Polls to 83 upazilas will be held on March 15 in the third phase. Alongside with the efforts to convince the Jamaat, BNP is also trying hard to convince the party rebel candidates. In some areas, BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia is intervening, but some rebel candidates are rigid on their stance.
In Sylhet Sadar upazila, four BNP leaders are in the race for the chairman post. BNP Vice-chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury has failed to announce single candidate. In this bakcdrop, Khaleda Zia summoned the four candidates in Dhaka. Shamsher Mobin said, they hope for reconciliation for single candidate before Thursday (tomorrow), as the day is the last day for nomination withdrawal for the third phase. In second phase of the UZ polls on February 27, Jamaat won 32 of 112 vice chairman posts, a draw with the BNP, while the AL bagged 30, Jatiya Party only three and others 14. Following the result, Jamaat is now more confident about its success in the next phases of the polls. The party supported a number of candidates in many upazilas, where BNP-backed candidates are also in the contest. In the last few days, both the parties have held series of meetings in district level. But they could not reach compromise or convince the rebel candidates to withdraw the nomination papers in the some places.
In Kanaighat upazila of Sylhet, district level leaders of BNP and Jamaat reached a compromise for single candidate in each post and directed their grassroots to work to win the upazila polls. Incumbent chairman Ashik Chowdhury got the support of the 19-party alliance, but central Juba Dal leader Mamunur Rashid Mamun and Jamaat leader Abdur Rahim are still in the race. Mamunur Rashid told The New Nation that he would try to get alliance support even at the last moment while Abdur Rahim said that he would not withdraw his candidature, as he would contest the polls under the banner of Nagorik Committee.
The situation in the Dakshin Surma and the Sadar upailzilas is identical, as leaders of both the parties are in the race. According the decision of the district level leaders, Jamaat got the Dakshin Surma upzila while BNP got Sadar upazila. But BNP district unit leader Ali Ahmed is contesting the polls in Dakshin Surma defying the party decision while Jamaat-backed candidate is also vying in Sadar upailzila. Ali Ahmed said, he is in the race, as the voters of the upazila favour him while a Jamaat leader of Sylhet area said that they would not refrain from the polls in the upazila of the BNP leader does not withdraw his candidature from the Dakshin Surma upzila.
