Abdus Sattar now leaves post as advisor to BNP chairperson

After resigning from the national parliament, Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan has now relinquished his post as advisor to the BNP chairperson. He submitted his resignation on Thursday night at the office of the BNP chairperson. His son Mainul Hasan Bhuiyan confirmed this to Prothom Alo.

Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan was elected as member of parliament as a BNP candidate in the 11th national election. He resigned from parliament on 11 December. The by-election to this seat will be held on 1 February.

Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan has been involved in BNP politics since the founding of the party. He was elected member of parliament five times. He once served as a technocrat state minister.

According to several sources within BNP, he was first elected as an independent candidate in 1979 to the Cumilla-1 (Nasirnagar-Sarail) seat, now the Brahmanbaria-1 seat. He was Brahmanbaria BNP’s founding vice president at the time. Not being nominated by the party, he contested in the election as an independent candidate. Then in the 1991 and the 1996 elections, he contested under the BNP party symbol and was elected member of parliament.

In the 2001 election, Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan left the seat to Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, the secretary general at the time of Islami Oikya Jote, a top leader of the four party alliance. When the BNP-led four-party alliance formed the government, he was made a technocrat state minister.

In the 2018 election, Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan won the election under BNP’s sheaf of paddy symbol. However, following the party’s decision, on 11 December he resigned from parliament. A by-election to that seat is now underway.

When a call was made to Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan’s mobile phone, his son Mainul Hasan Bhuiyan replied. He told Prothom Alo, “My father has been with BNP politics from the very start. He is old now. Also, he has been the district BNP president for a stretch of 27 years now. He is advisor to the party’s chairperson. He resigned from parliament in accordance to the party’s decision. But since after the last election, he is not consulted about anything concerning the central or district BNP.”

He said that he was not even consulted about forming the committee in his own upazila. “The acting chairman of the party does not reply to his calls. My father has resigned from the party while his dignity is still intact.”

When asked if his father would contest in the coming by-election, Mainul Hasan replied, “Our family has not taken any decision in this regard as yet.”