Awami League leaders have united to ensure the victory of the boat, said former mayor and current nominated candidate Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran in the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) election, vowing to reclaim control of Sylhet’s Nagar Bhaban.
The leaders have also said they will do anything to assist their nominated candidate, who is slated to submit his nomination on June 28.
Other aspiring nominees Sylhet metropolitan Awami League General Secretary Asad Uddin Ahmed, Joint General Secretary Faizul Anwar, Professor Zakir Hossain, and Education Secretary and current councillor Azadur Rahman Azad accepted Kamran’s nomination, promising to help him win the poll.
Multiple Awami League sources said, the silent opposition of a section of the party caused Kamran to lose the 2013 poll, but this year they have put aside their differences at the request of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The leaders discussed strategies and campaign ideas for the election at Kamran’s Sylhet home on Sunday morning, according to sources.
Asad Uddin Ahmed said: “I asked to be nominated as the mayoral candidate for the party, but the nomination was given to Kamran. Nevertheless, I will not act averse to the party’s interests, and we have united to help him win it.”
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has bestowed the party’s symbol upon me, and I am forever grateful to her for this. I want the people of the city to value her decision, and if they do so I will bring major developments to the city,” said Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, adding that a unified party campaign would ensure his win in the election.
Meanwhile, in the BNP camp, six different candidates have been interviewed and vetted for nomination by the party’s standing committee members. Although no clear decision has been made by the committee, current mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury and Sylhet metropolitan BNP General Secretary Badruzzaman Selim have already collected their nomination papers.
After collecting the papers, Selim said: “I am on the field with grassroots members of the party, and am hopeful for a nomination.”
Incumbent mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury said: “I believe that an assessment of my tenure will ensure my nomination.”
