Hasina re-elected as AL president, Obaidul Quader new general secretary

The Awami League has re-elected Sheikh Hasina as President while Obaidul Quader has been made the new General Secretary.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 23 Oct 2016, 11:11 AM
Updated : 24 Oct 2016, 09:12 AM

The ruling party chose the new leadership for the next three years on Sunday, the second day of its 20th National Council, at the session held at the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB).

Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury proposed Hasina's name as president.

Election Commissioner Yousuf Hossain Humayun declared her re-elected as nobody contested.

Syed Ashraful Islam, who served as general secretary for two terms, proposed Quader as his successor, which was supported by Jahangir Kabir Nanak.

Quader, the road transport minister, was also elected unopposed.

Sheikh Hasina and Obaidul Quader at the inaugural session of the council on Saturday.

The councillors then went on to nominate the Presidium members.

Outgoing general secretary Syed Ashraf has been inducted into the policymaking body. The new inclusions are Nurul Islam Nahid, Abdur Razzak, Abdul Mannan Khan, Faruk Khan, Ramesh Chandra Sen and Pijush Bhattacharya.

Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mohammad Nasim, Kazi Zafarullah, Sahara Khatun and Mosharraf Hossain will remain in the Presidium.

Joint secretaries general Mahbub-Ul Alam Hanif, Dipu Moni and Jahangir Kabir Nanak now have a new comrade Abdur Rahman.

HN Ashiqur Rahman will continue to serve as the treasurer.

Syed Ashraf took the reins of the party in one of its most difficult times as acting secretary general in 2007 during the military-installed Caretaker administration.

He proved his mettle when the emergency regime sought to punish politicians and banish Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia from politics.

Following a landslide victory in the 2008 general election, Hasina formed the government and kept Syed Ashraf in the Cabinet in the politically important portfolio of the local government and rural development (LGRD).

He was elected as the Awami League General Secretary during the 2009 National Council.

Syed Ashraful Islam and Obaidul Quader during the council. Photo taken from social media.

Amid allegations by the leaders and activists that Syed Ashraf is hardly available, Hasina kept trust in his efficiency to tackle situations like the Hifazat-e Islami mayhem and widespread violence during the BNP's movement as well as getting the party elected for a straight second term.

It seemed that a rift had emerged between them last year, when Hasina removed him from the portfolio, triggering all sorts of wild speculations.

But all of it ended a week later, when he was given another politically important portfolio, the public administration ministry.

Ahead of this council, speculations were rife that Syed Ashraf, the son of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's long-time trusted aide Syed Nazrul Islam, who served as the acting president of the war time Bangladesh government, was going to be replaced.

As senior leaders remaining tight-lipped over the changes, Syed Ashraf told the media the night before the council that only Hasina and he had knowledge about it, in an apparent effort to remind his detractors that he still holds sway in the party.

It was Syed Ashraf who proposed Obaidul Quader as the new deputy for the party chief.

The new general secretary has often made the news headlines for his sudden moves as the road transport minister.

Quader headed Awami League's student affiliate, Bangladesh Chhatra League, in a time when the party was going through dark times after the 1975 assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Before being nominated as a Presidium member in the last council, the 64-year-old served as a joint general secretary.

Sheikh Hasina during the second day of the 20th National Council.

Hasina thanked Syed Ashraf before wrapping up the council. "I thank Ashraful, who is like a brother to me. As the son of a martyr's family, he has given his heart to the party and the country. I believe the party will now strengthen further."

Hasina, who has been heading the party for the last 35 years, had recently said she would be 'happy' to retire given the opportunity and if the Awami League manages to find a new leader.

She reiterated it during the Sunday session but it drew "No, no" response from the councillors.

After being re-elected in the 20th National Council, she once again urged them to look for a new leader.

She told them it is a tough task to juggle the roles of the prime minister and the party chief.

"Leading the party for 35 years now, but I have to retire someday," said Hasina, who has turned 70 this year.