Hasina orders Awami League MPs to settle disputes with local leaders

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered the MPs of her party to iron out differences and resolve disputes with local Awami League leaders in their areas before the next parliamentary elections.

Her directive came at a meeting of the Awami League Parliamentary Party on Wednesday, a number of MPs, who attended the meeting, told bdnews24.com.  

“The prime minister asked the MPs to stop slinging mud at each other in their areas,” one of the female MPs said.

“She warned those creating problems in the area, and said she did not want to hear negative things about someone from others,” said the MP, who requested not to be named.

The Awami League chief’s order comes amid media reports about disputes between local leaders and lawmakers of the ruling party at many places.

According to another MP, the prime minister said the party high-up were conducting a survey every six months to pick up ‘popular and transparent’ leaders to fight in the next election, scheduled between late 2018 and early 2019.  

“She ordered all to work for the nominated candidates,” the MP said.

“She also advised us to be confident about a victory as the voters won’t vote those who burn people alive in the name of protests,” the MP said.

Hasina has often criticised the BNP for their 2015 violent blockade, in which over 100 people lost their lives in the firebombing of vehicles, especially public buses.

The issue was raised in the meeting when the MPs alleged that those who want to get the nomination in the next election were speaking against the current legislators.

The meeting, chaired by Hasina, lasted more than one and half an hours from 7:45pm.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Housing and Public Works Minister Mosharraf Hossain, Whip Atiur Rahman Atik, AKM Shamim Osman, Abdur Rahman Badi, and Anupom Shahjahan Joy, among others, spoke at the meeting.

An MP said Hasina slammed Shamim Osman for his failure to stay in his Narayanganj constituency during the BNP government’s rule.

“Shamim Osman was speaking about the conspiracy against him and the reasons for which he had to be abroad at the time,” the MP said.

“The leader (Hasina) was irked. She asked ‘why does someone need to flee? No one has to flee after doing good job’,” the MP told bdnews24.com.

Shamim Osman could not be reached for comment on the issue.