DHAKA: BNP, the party that boycotted last general election, has a new headache. There is more than one BNP candidate in many upazilas and a cold war is brewing with its ally Jamaat.

BNP is focusing on upazila polls to boost the confidence of leaders and activists alike. Party joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said: “We are trying to solve the problem arising from multiple candidates in some upazilas. But there is no upazila-related clash with Jamaat.”
 
BNP standing committee member MK Anwar said: “I don`t see any chaos as candidates for this election are being picked from the grass roots level.”

Another BNP central leader said that they would examine if any Jamaat candidate is in a better position in his area.

On the other hand, a Jamaat leader told banglanews that BNP did not show any respect for its programme “March for Democracy” on December 29 which was attended by many Jamaat-Shibir activists.

 Our faith in the BNP was shaken when it held a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan without the Jamaat, the leader added.

The Jamaat leader also said that they had sent a list of candidates detailing their grass root level acceptance and were awaiting the BNP`s response.

Jamaat sources said that they had sent list of candidates for 98 upazilas in the first phase - 35 for chairman, 38 for vice chairman and 14 for women vice chairman.

 The fact is that BNP is grappling with the problem of more than one candidate in 40 upazilas.

Elections for 487 upazilas will be held in six phases.

BDST:1305 HRS, FEB 07, 2014