Three 'rebel' JCD leaders expelled

Three leaders of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), who rejected the organisation's new central committee and were active in protests, have been expelled.

Two of them - former members of two previous committees Anisur Rahman Talukder Khokan and Abu Sayeed – have been rusticated from the BNP and the other one, Gazi Rezwanul Haque Riaz, who was the new panel's Joint Secretary, from the party's student wing.

A media statement, signed by BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, on Monday said Khokan and Sayeed were thrown out for violating the organisational code of conduct.

It also ordered all party affiliated organisations to cut all ties with them.

Later in the evening, another statement, signed by Chhatra Dal Office Secretary Abdus Sattar Patwari, said Riaz had been expelled from the organisation on the same charges.

The JCD central committee has also asked all leaders and activists to cut contacts with him.

The BNP and its student wing also served show-cause notice on five and two more leaders, respectively, for their alleged involvement in breach of organisational code of conduct.

The BNP's statement said five of them - former JCD vice-presidents Jabed Hasan Swadhin and Tarun Dey, former joint secretaries Tariqul Islam Titu and Ferdous Ahmed Munna and former assistant general secretary Rakibul Islam Royal - were asked to be present at the party's Naya Paltan headquarters by 5pm on Tuesday.

Chhatra Dal's statement also said that Chawkbazar unit President Nahidul Islam Nahid and same unit's former president Jakir Hossain Babu were also summoned at the same time at same place with their responses to the notice.

All these JCD leaders, both expelled and show-caused ones, rejected the new Chhatra Dal committee and had been leading the protests since it was announced on Oct 14.

The same leaders, representing those who did not get berths in the new panel, had also sat with the party's acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas later to resolve the issues.

During the agitations, Chhatra Dal leaders and activists had vandalised the BNP central office.

Even though both Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas met the agitators to end the turmoil, no permanent solution came and that made the disgruntled Chhatra Dal leaders and their supporters continue their protests.

The JCD leaders' expulsion on Monday came after an attack on the vehicle carrying BNP leaders Shaheed Uddin Chowdhury Annie and Sultan Salauddin Tuku on Friday.