I will contest election, resignation at appropriate time: Asif

Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, an adviser to the interim government, has said that he will contest the next parliamentary election.

In response to questions about his resignation, he said the Chief Adviser’s Office would inform everyone about the matter at the appropriate time.

He made these remarks while responding to journalists’ questions at a press conference held at the Secretariat on Wednesday afternoon.

After the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government on 5 August last year, an interim government was formed on 8 August under the leadership of Professor Muhammad Yunus. Three representatives of the students who led the July mass uprising were included in this government.

Among them, Nahid Islam was given charge of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Asif Mahmud was assigned the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Later, during a redistribution of advisers’ portfolios, Asif Mahmud was given charge of the Ministry of Labour in addition to Youth and Sports. On the other hand, Mahfuj Alam was initially appointed as special assistant to the Chief Adviser with the rank of adviser. Later, in another reshuffle of advisers’ responsibilities, Asif Mahmud was assigned the Ministry of Local Government along with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

In February this year, student leaders who had led the July uprising launched a new political party called the National Citizen Party (NCP). Nahid Islam resigned from the advisory council and became the party’s convener. Subsequently, Mahfuj Alam was appointed adviser to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Asif Mahmud has earlier said he would contest the election from Dhaka. On 9 November, he applied to change his voter constituency and become a voter in Dhanmondi. After that, discussions spread that he might contest from the Dhaka-10 constituency (Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, New Market and Hazaribagh).

There were even reports that he might contest the election through an understanding with the BNP or as a BNP candidate. However, in the second phase of candidate announcements on 4 December, the BNP included Dhaka-10 among the 36 constituencies for which it announced party nominees. In this situation, it is still unclear whether Asif Mahmud will contest as an independent candidate or from a party, and what his political affiliation will be.

At today’s press conference, he said that where he would contest the election from and which party he would run under would be matters for later analysis.