Disputes over new party’s top six posts settled  

After days of disputes, the six top positions of the impending political party from the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) and the Jatiya Nagorik Committee (JNC) have almost been finalised. 

As part of a negotiation among disputing factions, it has been decided that two additional posts – senior joint convener and senior joint member secretary – will be introduced in the new party, in addition to the existing positions of convener, member secretary, spokesperson, and chief organiser. 

Student leaders who played key roles in the July mass uprising are likely to assume the top positions in the new party. From the very beginning, there was no disagreement regarding the nomination of Nahid Islam as the convener. 

But there were significant differences over the nomination for the member secretary position. After phases of negotiation, Akhter Hossain, who is now the member secretary of the JNC, has largely been nominated for the same position in the upcoming political party. 

Nahid Islam, who is now serving as an adviser to the interim government, is likely to step down from the government any time to take the charge of convener in the new party. Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah are being considered for the positions of chief organiser and spokesperson, respectively.

Meanwhile, Ali Ahsan Jonayed, a former president of the Dhaka University unit of Islami Chhatra Shibir, is being considered for the post of senior joint convener, as per negotiations with former Shibir leaders in the JNC. Nasiruddin Patwary, the current JNC convener, will become the senior joint member secretary in the new party. 

Apart from them, other prominent figures in the new party may include JNC spokesperson Samantha Sharmin, joint conveners Sarwar Tushar, Tasnim Zara, and Ariful Islam Adeeb, as well as joint member secretaries Anik Roy, Mahbub Alam, and Alik Mri. Also, Abdul Hannan Masud, a key figure in SAD, is likely to take on an important position.

The new political party is planning for official launching on 26 February, with an event at Manik Mia Avenue in the capital. However, there is no plan for large-scale public gathering on the occasion. 

A preparatory committee has been formed with more than 100 leaders from the SAD and the JNC, ahead of the launching event. The committee held its first meeting at the JNC headquarters in the capital’s Bangla Motor  area on Wednesday. For the event, they formed some sub-committees and assigned them responsibilities. 

However, the name of the new political party was not finalised until Friday night. 

The JNC is leading efforts to form a new political party, engaging young leaders from different ideologies. There is a group of former Shibir leaders in the JNC who were trying to nominate their preferred candidate for the second highest position – member secretary – in the new party. 

When the party formation process began in the second week of February, former Shibir leader and JNC co-spokesperson Arefin Mohammad Hizbullah raised the issue with Akhter Hossain. Multiple sources confirmed Prothom Alo about the former Shibir leaders’ efforts to position their candidate as the member secretary. 

As disagreements emerged, some former Shibir leaders took to Facebook and highlighted their contributions to the July mass uprising. However, Asif Mahmud, an interim government adviser and former SAD coordinator, cautioned against distorting the uprising's history while highlighting individual contributions. Abdul Hanna Masud, the chief organiser of the SAD, also made a similar statement. 

A senior JNC leader told Prothom Alo that the JNC wants to move forward with all, and a negotiation has been made over the new party’s top positions from this point of view. Ali Ahsan Jonayed has been largely finalised as the senior joint convener. 

However, the individual who initiated the controversy on Facebook will not be given any position in the new party for the time being, the leader added. 

Alongside the new political party, a student organisation is also set to launch this week, under an initiative of the former SAD coordinators. Some are seeing the student organisation as a student front of the new party, but the organisers insisted that it will function independently, instead of maintaining affiliation with any particular party. 

Abu Baker Majumder and Zahid Ahsan, former SAD coordinators, are expected to take on the top leadership roles in the new student organisation, while two other former coordinators Abdul Kader and Sanjana Afifa Aditi will lead its Dhaka University unit.