Ehsanul Haque Jasim :
The BNP men, even the party chief Begum Khaleda Zia, are unhappy with the convening committee of the Dhaka city unit, as the committee has failed to form the full-fledged committee in time while it also failed to play active role on the streets.
Party insiders said that convening committee wouldn’t form the full-fledged committee within short time although the deadline has expired. Farid Uddin Ahmed, a member of the committee, told The New Nation that they are facing trouble to form the full-fledged committee and also the committees of the thana and ward units. They may take more times in this regard, he added.
Headed by the party’s standing committee member Mirza Abbas, the two-month timeframe of the committee ended on September 17. The 52-member convening committee was announced on July 18 with the directives of forming the thana and ward unit committees within one month and the full-fledged city committee by one more month.
The convening committee was announced following the failure of the previous committee, as Sadek Hossain Khoka-led committee failed to play proper role during the January-5 election. For this reason, Khaleda Zia gave Mirza Abbas the responsibility for reorganising the committee and making the street movement a success.
Some city unit leaders alleged that Mirza Abbas’s arch rival Khoka and his followers are creating obstacles in their works although Khoka in now staying in the USA for treatment. “Khoka is making directives from the USA and hampering our activities,” said a city unit leader.
Khaleda Zia at the recent meeting of the party’s standing committee expressed her frustration over the poor performance of the convening committee. She came down heavily on Mirza Abbas and asked him to leave the post if they can’t play proper role. She told him that the party men across the country are unhappy with the role of the party’s senior leaders and the leaders of Dhaka, said a standing committee member quoting Khaleda Zia.
He further said, Mirza Abbas tried to defend himself, but Khaleda Zia stopped him rejecting his views. Rebuking the leader, she also said that he could not invigorate the city unit although more time has elapsed.
Some leaders and workers of the party said that city committee convener Mirza Abbas and member secretary Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel are busy in establishing their own supremacy in the city leadership, but not sincere in forming the full-fledged committee. They apprehend that Mirza Abbas and Sohel will try to grab their posts for long and that is why they are just wasting time, showing different reasons for their inactivity.
In this circumstance, many leaders and workers are in doubt about the success of the fresh movement demanding mid-term polls under a non-party government system. Khaleda Zia is planning to launch anti-government movement with tougher programmes in January.
