Siddique to be 'expelled' from Awami League

After 'expulsion' from the Cabinet over controversial remarks on Hajj, Abdul Latif Siddique is now likely to lose his party membership in the Awami League, says a central leader of the party.

The Prime Minister stopped at Sylhet for an hour on Thursday before heading to Dhaka after her flight from the UK landed in Bangladesh. She met senior leaders of the party at the international airport in Sylhet.

"The Prime Minister told us that she had instructed Latif Siddique to be removed from the Cabinet while she was at London. She told us that he will be also expelled from the party," AL Central Organizing Secretary Misbah Uddin Siraj told reporters at the airport on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif told a press conference that Siddique will be removed from the Cabinet.

"Bangladesh Awami League doesn't support such statements. That's why the prime minister has immediately dismissed him from the Cabinet," he said.

Siddique drew widespread condemnation after rubbishing the practice of Hajj and Tabligh Jamaat at a programme in New York on Sunday.

A video clip of him making that statement kicked up a storm as it went viral on the Internet and touched raw nerves within his party and outside.  Not the least because a whole lot of Awami league ministers and senior bureaucrats are on Hajj now.

“So much manpower is wasted over Hajj. Two million people are now in Saudi Arabia for Hajj. They have no work or role in production. They only eat and go abroad using the country’s money,” Siddique was heard saying in the video.

He also reacted strongly to a question about Sheikh Hasina’s son and ICT Adviser Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy. “Why do you talk about Joy all the time? Who is 'Joy Bhai'?

"Joy is not in the Bangladesh government. He does not take decisions."

After the statement's video went viral, Opposition parties demanded Siddique's expulsion from politics and threatened agitation if that did not happen.

Even Awami League ally, Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad called for his arrest.

 Hifazat-e Islam called for his death while Jamaat-e-Islami went low key demanding an unconditional apology.

Several cases and complaints were filed against Siddique at courts in several districts on Wednesday blaming him for hurting religious sentiments. Two Dhaka courts have also summoned him in five cases.