An Awami League leader has claimed rivalries within the BNP were behind the attack on Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir’s motorcade.
“Grouping may have led to the attack on Mirza Fakhrul’s car,” said Hasan Mahmud at a discussion on Monday, as the ruling party faced blame for the attack in Chittagong.
Mirza Fakhrul, leading a delegation of his party leaders to Rangamati where landslides claimed many lives, came under attack at Rangunia’s Ichhakhali on Sunday.
The BNP leaders, who held a media briefing after diverting back to Chittagong, immediately blamed supporters of Mahmud, MP from the area where they came under assault.
Mahmud, the Awami League’s publicity secretary, was also in Rangunia taking part in a road repair with party activists when the incident took place.
On Sunday, he quickly blamed the attack on locals. “Mirza Fakhrul’s motorcade hit and injured two locals in Ichhakhali. That angered people who then committed this incident,” he had said.
But his claim was a ‘blatant lie’ said BNP Organising Secretary Mahbubur Rahman Shamim who was in the cars that were smashed.
“We know that two people are in hospital with grave injuries after being hit by the BNP secretary general’s car. The BNP leaders then began arguing with locals who then vandalised their vehicles,” said Hasan Mahmud at the Bangabandhu Sanskritik Kote’s discussion in Dhaka’s Shilpakala Academy.
He then talked about his suspicions about inner squabbling of the BNP.
“Grouping within the BNP has been a long-standing issue at Chittagong and Rangunia. As far as we know, the car Mirza Fakhrul was in had leaders from one of these groups.
“It is also a fact that Rangunia was long represented by Salauddin Quader Chowdhury. No-one from that BNP leader’s family was in his car. It’s possible that it was the reason behind the attack.”
He, however, claimed that the incident, while mysterious, was unfortunate but arch-rival BNP was using it for their own ends.
“The BNP leaders were going to Rangamati when the relief and rescue work almost ended and they came under attack. Now they’re trying to make big news of it,” the MP alleged.
Source: bdnew24
