AL picks Salman F Rahman to fight for Dhaka-1, the seat of Jatiya Party’s Salma

The Awami League has nominated Beximco Group boss Salman F Rahman for Dhaka-1 constituency which its key ally the Jatiya Party’s Salma Islam currently represents in parliament.

Salman, who advises party chief Sheikh Hasina on private sector development affairs, received the letter confirming the ticket to use the boat logo along with over 230 other candidates on Sunday.

As discussions between the ruling party and the opposition in parliament on the share of seats for contesting in the parliamentary polls are under way, Salma is also expecting to get the Jatiya Party’s ticket.

Salman, a vice-chairman of the Beximco Group which started its journey just after independence, had headed the apex trade body FBCCI in mid-90s.

The group’s business ranges from pharmaceuticals, ceramic, clothing, energy, to ICT and media. A number of companies under the group are also listed on the capital market.

Salman fought for the Dhaka-1 seat, which consists of Dohar and Nababgabnj on the outskirts of the capital, in the 2001 election with the Awami League ticket, but lost to his relative and a then BNP leader Nazmul Huda.

Before joining the Awami League, Salman lost his deposit with the Election Commission by drawing only a a handful of votes in 1996 as a candidate of the ‘Samriddha Bangladesh Andolan’ party he had founded. He contested for the Dhanmondi seat in Dhaka at the time.

In 2008, the Awami League’s Abdul Mannan Khan won the Dhaka-1 seat by defeating the BNP candidate former state minister for civil aviation Abdul Mannan. Khan also worked as a state minister from 2009 to 2013.

In the 2014 elections which the BNP stayed away from, the Awami League and the Jatiya Party shared the constituencies by not pitting their candidates against each other.

They, however, kept the race for Dhaka-1 seat open for all.

Jatiya Party Presidium Member Salma, the wife of Jamuna Group boss Nurul Islam Babul, defeated the Awami League’s Abdul Mannan Khan in the that election.

Salma, who is also the publisher of the Bangla daily Jugantor, is the frontrunner for her party’s ticket for the seat again.