Chakladar's power 'reined in'
Zahirul Islam Chakladar is the present pourashava mayor of Jashore and cousin of Shaheen Chakladar, member of parliament and district Awami League general secretary.
After he was elected as mayor, there was considerable development in the town, but even so Zahirul was not given party nomination for the mayoral post this time.
The nomination was given to district Awami League's vice president, freedom fighter Haider Ghani Khan. He is outside of Shaheen Chakladar's influential circle in district politics.
The sadar constituency lawmaker Kazi Nabil Ahmed leads the other influential circle in Jashore politics. Ghani Khan is affiliated with this circle.
With AL leader and mayor Zahirul failing to clinch nomination this time, local Awami League leaders feel that the ruling party is handing over control in Jashore to the most influential leader of the district. This is seen as initiative to bring about a balance in the politics there.
Haider Ghani Khan's name was finalised as party candidate on 30 January at the AL nomination board meeting.
Ghani Khan hasn't been known to wield much power in Jashore politics and he never even tried to build up his own power base. So his sudden nomination as mayor has come as a surprise to many within the party.
Several AL leaders have said that the politics in Jashore is much like that of Chattogram. While there were two groups in the town's politics, Shaheen Chakladar was at the centre of power. By nominating Ghani Khan, the reins have been pulled on Chakladar's monopoly of power in the town.
This will step up the Kazi Nabil group's power in politics and the imbalance between the two groups will lessen. The leaders feel that in Chattogram, former mayor AJM Nasir has been reined in to bring about a balance with deputy minister Mohibul Alam Chowdhury's circle.
AL district general secretary Shaheen Chakladar has reportedly sent a list of three persons, including that of Zahirul Islam Chakladar, to the centre. Meanwhile, Kazi Nabil's follower, district president Shahidul Islam, sent a list of four other names. Haider Ghani Khan's name is in neither of these lists. He was backed by the party's Khulna division organising secretary BM Mozammel Huq. Leaders of the Kazi Nabil camp supported this.
Shahidul Islam said that BM Mozammel Huq had asked for Haider Ghani to be recommended. Party president Sheikh Hasina nominated Ghani Khan.
Recently a conversation between Shaheen Chakladar and the Keshabpur police station's officer-in-charge Jasim Uddin went viral. In the audio clip, Shaheen Chakladar was instructing the OC to explode a crude bomb at the police station or at a brick factory in order to frame an environmental activist on charges of attempted robbery.
Earlier, ruling party men beat up a Jashore police line constable at the Shaheed Minar in the town. The police and local AL men came into confrontation with each other over the incident. It is believed that Shaheen Chakladar played a role involving the home ministry to open an investigation into the incident. There are speculations as to whether all these events have been behind Zahirul Islam's failure to win nomination from the party.
In the meantime, after getting the nomination, Haider Ghani Khan reached the Jashore airport at 11:00 am Monday morning. From there he went with party leaders and activists to lay wreaths at a mural of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He was accompanied by leaders known to be of the Kazi Nabil camp. None of Shaheen Chakladar's supporters were seen with him. Ghani Khan told Prothom Alo, "I have been with Awami League politics since 1969. Our leader (Hasina) has duly evaluated me."
Zahirul Islam Khan Chakladar said, "I do not understand why I have not been nominated. However, I will accept the decision of party president Sheikh Hasina. I will not contest against the boat symbol."