Mirza Abbas cornered in BNP:Daily Sun

  Dhaka city BNP convener Mirza Abbas has now been cornered in the party and lost his image as a political leader due to rift over the city BNP leadership, party sources said. It is learnt from party insiders that city BNP leaders and workers are unhappy and upset with Mirza Abbas for his conflicting role in city BNP and failure to form unit committees in time. The city BNP men also are doubtful w
hether Mirza Abbas can forge strong and effective movement against the incumbent government to oust it from power and to realise the party’s demand for holding early general election under a non-party government, sources added. While asked whether Mirza Abbas is cornered in the party, member secretary of city BNP and Swechchhasebak Dal president Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel said, “No, no….it is out of question. We are unitedly taking the organisation ahead.” Party sources said Mirza Abbas, also a standing committee member of BNP, is now cornered in the party for different reasons, including his rift with Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, disobeying BNP chairperson’s directive on city BNP and failure to organise the party’s Dhaka unit. Sources said Mirza Abbas was involved in internal feud with newly formed Dhaka city BNP convening committee member secretary Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel as he could not accept Sohel in the post. He requested BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to exclude Sohel from city BNP or to curtail his power but she did not pay heed to his request. Later, Khaleda Zia held a meeting with city BNP leaders and said the city committee would not change and warned them that if city BNP activities are obstructed by anyone, then stern action would be taken against the person. After the warning from the party chairperson, Mirza Abbas and his aides did not express their opposition openly but Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel still could not sit in the room of member secretary of city BNP at its Bhashani Bhaban office in Nayapaltan of the capital. Sohel is now trying to establish his position in the city BNP without Abbas while he is blessed by Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman and some senior leaders of the party. “Khaleda Zia is not happy with Mirza Abbas for his feud with Sohel and BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman who is now staying in London has already been informed about the internal feud in city BNP and he becomes angry with him. Khaleda Zia and Tarique chose Sohel for city BNP leadership,” a top leader of BNP said. BNP sources said Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman have chosen Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel for the post of member secretary of the city BNP as they much rely on him and are trying to create next leadership for the city BNP through coming out of Abbas-Khoka grip. “Mirza Abbas is now cornered in the party and his feud with Sohel is highly criticised inside the party. The BNP high command is not happy with Abbas. They hoped that Abbas would work unitedly to strengthen the organisation but he actually tries to establish his own supremacy in the city politics,” a BNP leader said. There has been a longstanding dispute between Mirza Abbas and immediate past convener of city BNP Sadeque Hossain Khoka over the leadership and supremacy in the party. Mirza Abbas is unhappy as many people of Sadeque Hossain Khoka are included in the new convening committee of city BNP while the supporters of Khoka decided to cooperate with Sohel. The leaders and activists of Dhaka city BNP were very disappointed as its convening committee could not form new committees of local ward and thana units within the one-month timeframe due to internal feud, a city BNP leader said. Meanwhile, the supporters of Mirza Abbas in the city BNP now cannot depend on him as it is already cleared that the BNP standing committee member has lost his political image in the party and he is likely not to be able to forge strong movement against the incumbent government, said a city BNP worker.