After Shamsher Mobin, executive committee member Shahriar Rumi resigns from BNP

Within weeks of vice-chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury’s resignation, the BNP has lost another leader.

National Executive Committee member MM Shahriar Rumi has announced he is quitting the party.

Once a member of the Awami League, the politician has decided to return to the path shown by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He told bdnews24.com on Sunday he had tendered his resignation letter to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia by post.

Rumi has also resigned as the party’s Faridpur district unit senior vice-chairman.

“I think that the pro-Liberation War forces, who under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman liberated the country, should all unite. For this reason, I have resigned from the BNP,” he said.  

Rumi joined the BNP on May 4, 2002 on failing to get an Awami League ticket for Faridpur-5 constituency in the 2001 general elections.

However, he contested the election as an independent candidate but lost to Awami League Presidium Member Kazi Zafarullah.

His family has been linked to Awami League politics for long. His father Shamsuddin Molla was a close friend of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Rumi said the BNP had nominated him for the forestalled Jan 22, 2007 parliamentary elections. 

Asked if he wanted to join the Awami League, he said, “Our entire family supports the Awami League. I was also involvedwith the Chhatra League when I was a student,” he recalled.

“It’s only I who joined the BNP in 2002 from my family. I was in discomfort because of this. Now it’s over as I have resigned. 

“I am yet to decide what I shall do,” he added.

The BNP’s Faridpur district unit President Zahurul Haque Shahzada Mia told bdnews24.com he had no idea why Rumi resigned.

“He had been inactive in politics for a long  time,” he said.

“There was no pressure on him when he joined the BNP. He did so willingly,” he said.

“The BNP is a large party. There will be no impact if one or two leave,” he added.

It may be recalled that BNP vice-chairman Shamsher Mobin announced his retirement from the party and politics on what he called  health-related grounds on Oct 29.

A number of Awami League leaders have said those in the BNP who believe in the spirit of the Liberation War will ditch its leadership one by one.