In Mymensingh 11-Party Alliance parliamentarians and BNP’s defeated candidate face off
Photo Collected
The dispute between Member of Parliament of Mymensingh-2 (Phulpur-Tarakanda) constituency Muhammadullah and BNP candidate Motahar Hossain Talukder who lost in the last national election has turned into a conflict. BNP has been accused of harassing a Member of Parliament and his supporters for attending the New Year ceremony in Tarakanda Upazila on Tuesday and attacking the protest of 11 parties in protest. However, denying these allegations, the defeated candidate of BNP raised various counter-allegations against the member of Parliament. The two sides held a press conference at the Mymensingh Press Club on Wednesday afternoon. The issue has started to heat up in local politics.
In the Thirteenth National Assembly election held on February 12, Muhammadullah, a new face in local politics in Mymensingh-2 (Phulpur-Tarakanda) constituency, supported by the 11-party electoral alliance, the candidate of Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis, was elected by getting 1 lakh 46 thousand 202 votes. His nearest rival Mymensingh North district BNP joint convener Motahar Hossain Talukder got 1 lakh 18 thousand 438 votes.
In a written speech at a press conference at the Mymensingh Press Club auditorium at 12:30 noon, Muhammadullah said that while attending the New Year celebrations organized by the Tarakanda Upazila administration yesterday, his (Muhammadullah) supporters had a verbal altercation and scuffle with the supporters of the defeated candidate of BNP. In protest, a protest march was taken out in Tarakanda market at four in the afternoon. At the end of the procession, under the instructions of Motahar Hossain Talukder, his leaders-activists ambushed 11 party leaders-activists. 10-15 people were injured. They are under treatment at Maulana Hedayatullah Mymensingh Medical College Hospital in critical condition.
The member of parliament said in a written statement, “I have always wanted to maintain cordial relations with BNP. But the defeated candidate Motahar Hossain Talukder continues to misbehave with his leaders and workers. Motahar Hossain Talukdar threatened me in front of the District Commissioner after the meeting of the District Law and Order Committee the day before yesterday. Today I was attacked on his instructions. Previously, his people attacked and vandalized my iftar party. Various roads, institutions are forcibly opening the contractors by intimidation. He wants me not to be the chief guest at any official function, he will be. This is why his attack. He kept threatening to not let me enter my parliamentary constituency. I am the elected representative of the people. I have to participate in the development work.
Later, in response to journalists’ questions, MP Muhammadullah said, “I have no real dispute with Motahar Hossain Talukdar.” The dispute is, he did not pass; But I became an MP in a short time. That’s why he (Motahar Hossain) will show me how to do MPGiri. He kept saying, on paper, I should run as an MP in the parliament, he will run as an MP in the area. Don’t let me enter the area. It is a display of his vengeance and power, nothing more. Although there are threats against us, this kind of direct attack has not happened before. He could not accept that he had been defeated in the election and threatened officials and employees in Tarakanda and Phulpur upazila.
The parliamentarian complained that the normal activities are also being obstructed. He also said, ‘We are afraid, it’s not like that; I don’t want the environment to be spoiled. We don’t want to give him what he wants, to hunt fish in muddy water by destroying the environment. We want the country to have a good environment and want to work with those who are in BNP. My opponent is not BNP. Everyone in BNP is pretty good. But Motahar and some people with him are only opponents. I have spoken to the party about taking legal action. Everything is being prepared. We will go towards the legal process.”
Meanwhile, Motahar Hossain Talukder, the joint convener of North District BNP and the defeated candidate of BNP in the election held an emergency press conference at Mymensingh Press Club at around 3:30 pm. He raised various allegations of rigging in the 13th National Assembly elections and filed a case in the High Court. Motahar Hossain claimed that there was no attack on members of Parliament yesterday. He said, “If there is an argument with the boys of the school based on the impact of the MP’s followers on the girls’ bodies, I stop it.” There was no one from our party here. Clashes took place with our people during the procession in the afternoon. But the man who is said to have been beaten up, his body smeared with chicken blood, was not actually injured.
Motahar Hossain denied the allegation of obstructing the normal work of the MP and said, “The MP and some of his paid people satirized the work I do on Facebook. I am closely associated with the people of the area. And he just became an MP. As per the election promise I sanctioned and inaugurated the Tarakanda-Dhoboura road. It will take MPs to inaugurate minor roads—if there is such a law, I will comply if you can show it. But now we are doing this for social reasons.
This leader of BNP also said, “He (Member of Parliament Muhammadullah) somehow became an MP.” I don’t understand why he is so jealous of me now. Shall I leave politics because of Muhammadullah’s jealousy? Or stop going to the area? After seeing the CCTV footage, if any of our party leaders and workers are involved in the incident or any such incidents have taken place, then I will personally call the Superintendent of Police to take action against them.’
Source: Prothom Alo Bangla
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