Shamim Osman finally bats for once-rival Ivy
Ruling Awami League MP AKM Shamim Osman on Friday publicly denied there is any rift in the party over the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) election.
One who contested and lost to Selina Hayat Ivy in the previous NCC ballot, Shamim Osman termed Ivy a competent candidate and asked party men to campaign for her.
Addressing a press conference attended by party leaders at a park built after the name of his brother and Jatiya Party MP Nasim Osman, Shamim even said he is ready to quit his Jatiya Sangsad membership to seek vote for Ivy.
"I will resign from parliament on Saturday and canvass for her. If the party leader Sheikh Hasina doesn't give me such opportunity, I will campaign from outside the city corporation area," he said reiterating his allegiance to the top leadership.
Shamim Osman, the successor of a political family in Narayanganj, claimed that the post-1975 generations in the AL including himself, have "only one master" that is Sheikh Hasina as the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He also asked all leaders and workers of Narayanganj AL to jump on Ivy's polls campaign from door to door.
"You don't need to see where Ivy is going. Every AL worker will humbly seek vote for Sheikh Hasina's boat symbol. I am confident, victory is certainly ours," Shamim Osman added.
He also criticised those civil society members and participants in television chat-shows who, he felt, tacitly joined the campaign against him during the previous NCC elections. "They tried to slaughter us but I didn't say anything.”
The MP for Narayanganj-4 constituency also vented his frustration over legal restriction imposed by electoral rules for the people’s representatives on joining election campaign. "It's not fair that I will not be allowed to work for my chosen candidate,” said the MP and called for the election commission to bring necessary changes in the electoral laws to provide equal opportunity for everyone.
Shamim Osman showed the newsmen present in the briefing two sarees inscribed with the boat symbol which he bought for Selina Hayat Ivy from a famous shop in Narayanganj.
"As I cannot go with her for campaign [due to EC's restriction], my younger sister Ivy will campaign from door to door wearing these sarees and she will definitely understand that my prayers are with her," he said.
Shamim Osman was accompanied by Narayanganj AL president Abdul Hye, general secretary ABu Hasnat Md Shahid Badal, and Narayanganj city AL president Anwar Hossain and its general secretary Khokon Saha.