The New Nation - Internet Edition

Pulack Ghatack/Pankaj Karmakar

Sudha Sadan, residence of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina at Dhanmondi, yesterday witnessed both joyful and noisy scenes in connection with the party nomination.

Sudha Sadan reverberated with the joy and merriment of the candidates who were blessed with party nomination for contesting the upcoming parliamentary election. Demonstration, shouting and slogans of the unsuccessful candidates somewhat marred the joyful scene at Sudha Sadan at the same time.

Remarkably, there were a good number of new faces who were awarded party nominations for contesting the polls for the coveted parliamentary seat. A significant number of ranking leaders, mainly "reformists," were disheartened for failing to manage nomination this time.

Some of the frustrated aspirants complained that the parliamentary board headed by Sheikh Hasina ignored the recommendations of the local panels in giving the nomination.

Thousands of AL activists and supporters of several leaders, on the other hand, were found dancing and chanting slogans as their candidates of choice won party nominations.

A group of AL activists protested against nomination of Shafiqur Rahman to contest in the Chandpur-4 constituency. The protesters supported Dr Shamsul Haque Bhuiyan, who was denied nomination. Nomination of Habibur Rahman Sheikh for Pirojpur-2 irked the supporters of Principal Shah Alam. They lodged a noisy protest against the nomination.

A number of central leaders of AL, who incurred the party chief's wrath for turning themselves as so-called reformists to avert arrest or to gain benefit prior to and after her arrest in the ongoing emergency rule, entered into Sudha Sadan to sooth her.

However, they neither could meet Sheikh Hasina, nor could manage the party nomination despite their day-long stay there.

The midlevel central leaders, who were denied party nominations apparently for their role after one-eleven include: Joint General Secretary Mukul Bose, organising secretaries Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Akhtaruzzaman, Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed and Abdur Rahman, Health and Population Affairs Secretary Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Youth and Sports Secretary Dewan Shafiul Arefin Tutul, central committee members Prof Abu Sayeed and AKM Jahangir Hossain, and Jubo League Chairman Jahangir Kabir Nanak.

Presidium members Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta however had no trouble securing nominations despite widely held perception that they were the brains behind the pro-reform efforts, added the sources.

Freshers among the nomination getters include Mirza Golam Erfan Babu, son of BNP leader and former speaker Mirza Golam Hafiz, Tanvir Shakil Joy, son of AL leader Mohammad Nasim, Iqbalur Rahim, son of former AL lawmaker Abdur Rahim, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, son of former AL state minister Abdur Rouf Chowdhury, and Nazrul Islam Babu, former general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League.