Seat-Sharing With Jatiya Party: AL suddenly in a fix

The ruling Awami League is yet to finalise its seat-sharing with electoral allies despite having a series of meetings with several of them yesterday.

The ruling party could not reach a consensus with its ally Jatiya Party, a major component of the grand alliance that won a landslide in the 2008 polls, insiders said.

An understanding between the AL and JP is crucial as unlike the 2014 polls, which the BNP and its allies had boycotted, this election is likely to be competitive.

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Seat-Sharing: '14-party allies want 120, AL may offer 15'

AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader sat with top leaders of Workers Party, Inu-led JSD, and Jatiya Party at the AL headquarters on Bangabandhu Avenue around noon.

He held meetings with the delegates of Ganotrantri Party, National Awami Party, and Samyabadi Dal at the AL president's Dhanmondi office in the evening.

The JP, which has 40 incumbent MPs including six in the reserved seats for women, handed over a list of 100 to Quader during the meeting and demanded seats set aside for them, said JP sources.

Following AL persuasion, the JP brought down its demand to 50 seats but the AL general secretary would not budge from 40 seats, the JP sources added.

At one stage, the JP delegation, led by JP Secretary General Ruhul Amin Hawlader, and the AL team, led by Quader, started constituency-wise discussions to find which candidates had the best chances of victory.

After discussing 10 to 15 constituencies, the two sides could not progress further and agreed to place the matter before AL President Sheikh Hasina, said a JP leader, who was present at the meeting.

The meeting between Hasina and JP leaders was supposed to be held last night but it did not happen. It could be held today, a top JP leader told this paper.

The AL primarily picked the party's organising secretary Muhibul Hasan Chowdhury Naofel for Chattogram-9, where JP Presidium Member Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu is an incumbent. This disappointed many JP leaders, said sources.

About the meeting, JP Secretary General Hawlader said the seat-sharing issue would be finalised by this evening (Sunday) as top leaders of the two sides would sit again.

Despite the unresolved issues, the AL is planning to reveal the 300 candidates of its electoral alliance today, said party sources.

Talking to The Daily Star, Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said they were informed by the ruling party that the distribution of seats among the allies would be made public today.

After the meeting at the AL's Bangabandhu Avenue office, Quader said the alliance partners would not get more than 70 seats.

"We discussed various issues, including seat-sharing, and it'll be finalised soon. After that, the names of candidates [of the electoral alliance] will be made public within a day or two," he said.

Of the 20 constituencies in Dhaka, JP demanded at least seven seats --  Dhaka-1, -4, -5, -6, -13, -17 and -18.

It pressed for incumbents Salma Islam's Dhaka-1, Abu Hossain Babla's Dhaka-4, and Kazi Feroz Rashid's Dhaka-6 seats and wanted Mir Abdus Sabur for Dhaka-5, Shafiqul Islam Sentu for Dhaka-13, JP Chairman HM Ershad for Dhaka-17, and GM Quader for Dhaka-18.      

AL Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak is the incumbent of Dhaka-13 while AL presidium member Shahara Khatun holds Dhaka-18. Besides them, the ruling party primarily selected AL president's adviser Salman F Rahman for Dhaka-1.

WORKERS PARTY

The Workers Party, which has six lawmakers in the current parliament, was offered five seats, sources said. 

During AL's meeting with the Workers Party, the AL said Workers Party would not get the Narail-2 constituency currently held by its politburo member Hafizur Rahman.

Bangladesh ODI cricket captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza would run from there under the AL banner.

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon would run in Dhaka-8, General Secretary Fazle Hossain Badsha in Rajshahi-2, Mustafa Lutfullah in Satkhira-1, Md Yeasin Ali in Thakurgaon-3, and Tipu Sultan in Barishal-3, said sources.

Sources said the Workers Party had sought three seats in addition to the six it holds.

It wanted Jashore-4 for politburo member Iqbal Kabir Zahid but Quader refused saying AL incumbent Ranajit Kumar Roy would run from there.

The demand for Meherpur-2 for politburo member Nur Ahmed Bakul and Natore-1 for central committee member Ibrahim Khalil were denied.

JSD

The AL assured Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu) of two seats but JSD (Inu) has three MPs in parliament.

JSD President Hasanul Haq Inu holds Kushtia-2, General Secretary Shirin Akhter Feni-1, and AKM Rezaul Karim Tansen Bogura-4.

During Quader's meeting with JSD-Inu leaders, the JSD demanded 15 seats. But the AL agreed to give JSD two constituencies, Inu's and Shirin's.

Another faction of JSD, led by Sharif Nurul Ambia, was promised two seats. It currently has two MPs in the House -- Moin Uddin Khan Badal in Chittagong-8 and Nazmul Haque Prodhan in Panchagarh-1. 

The faction demanded three more seats from the AL -- Ambia in Narail-1, party vice-president Rezaul Haque in Kushtia-1, and party organising secretary Abul Kalam Azad in Barishal-2.

“We gave the shortest list to the Awami League and the demand must be met,” Ambia told The Daily Star.

OTHER PARTIES

The AL told 14-party alliance components Ganotrantri Party, National Awami Party and Samyabadi Dal that the issue of seat-sharing with them would be properly evaluated, sources said.

The AL earlier promised two seats to AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury-led Bikalpadhara Bangladesh -- Munshiganj-1 for BDB Presidium Member Mahi B Chowdhury and Laxmipur-4 for Secretary General Major (retd) Abdul Mannan.

The AL also assured Tarikat Federation of two seats -- Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandary in Chattogram-2 and Anwar Khan in Laxmipur-1. Nazibul, chief of Tarikat Federation, confirmed The Daily Star last night.