Member of parliament of the Kishoreganj-2 (Katiadi-Pakundia) seat, Nur Mohammad, is ignoring directives from the Awami League central committee and requests from the party's district committee, grassroots leaders alleged.
Both the committees sent the same message to the MP, asking him not to take part in Pakundia upazila Awami League organisational activities.
However, he has been ignoring these decisions and continuously carrying out organisational activities.
Party leaders have said that the member of parliament had challenged the directives of the two committees by attending the Pakundia upazila Burudia union Awami League conference on Saturday as chief guest. This has placed the MP and district Awami League in confrontation.
According to party sources, Nur Mohammad, former inspector general of police (IGP), entered politics by contesting with the AL ticket from the Kishoreganj-2 seat in the 11th parliamentary election.
He is from Katiadi. Even though he holds no post in the party, from the very outset he has been trying to exert his influence in AL in both the upazilas. In recent times he has been concentrating on a reorganisation of Pakundia upazila AL.
Pakundia upazila AL's last committee was formed in 1994 by means of a council. Over two decades on, no full-fledged committee was formed after that. On 19 August 2020 a convening committee was formed. AFM Obaidullah was made the convener.
Despite passage of time since then, Obaidullah has failed to come up with new leadership. Obaidullah is 78 years old and, admitting failure, resigned on 20 September last year.
Joint convener Motayem Swapan took over. He is known to be the MP's follower. Another joint convener, Rafiqul Islam, is now opposed to the MP in the area. He is the upazila parishad chairman.
Motayem, on behalf of the MP, is now in the forefront of all union conferences held in recent times.
However, Rafiqul plays a silent role. After the convener resigned, the process to form a committee continued, despite the organisational vacuum. This came to the notice of the central committee.
Recently the central committee's organising secretary Mirza Azam issued directives to halt all organisational activities in Pakundia. Copies of the directives were sent to the district AL president and general secretary as well as the MP.
As this made no difference, district Awami League also issued a letter, referring to the central committee directives. The MP paid no heed to any of these directives. In order to put pressure on the MP, two leaders of the district, known to be his loyalists, were removed from their posts on Thursday.
The two leaders who were relieved of their posts were district AL information and research secretary Abu Naser Faruk and executive member Shahidul Islam. They were accused of violating party discipline. But even that did not stop the MP.
Under such a situation, an extended meeting of district AL was called by the centre. AL central committee general secretary Obaidul Quader and organising secretary Mirza Azam were supposed to have joined the meeting virtually and give directives concerning Pakundia. However, on Saturday the central committee suddenly suspended the meeting.
District general secretary MA Afzal said Nur Mohammad holds no party post. It is not his responsibility to form a committee. Any committee formed by him will not be legitimate. Yet he is going ahead and doing that. He is not bothered with the letters sent from the centre or from the district. Two district leaders have lost the posts for this.
When asked if action will be taken against the MP, Afzal replied, "The two leaders were on our committee and that is why we could take action. But the MP is not ours. The centre will have to deal with him."
Shahidul Islam, who lost his post, said unrest will arise in district AL if the MP is confronted just for a simple matter. The negative impact of this will be felt by the various front organisations and also at the upazila level.
Speaking about the matter over mobile phone, Nur Mohammad said, "There has been no committee for over two decades. The Pakundia leaders are forgetting their party identity. There is need to establish new leadership. The few attempts that were made, failed. The party men were losing confidence. I am now carrying this out so this time we won't have to back away again."
When asked if his move would be a violation of central and district orders, he replied, if taken in that manner, yes it will be.
* This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ayesha Kabir