Rivalry between the lawmakers and local leaders has resulted in factional infighting in the ruling Awami League in most of the districts. It also impeds AL high-command’s effort to rejuvenate the party in the grass-root level. The emergence of two or three factions in the ruling Awami League at the grassroots level has led to increased intra-party feuds, say local leaders. It became apparent in most of the cases that one group was controlled by the district AL presidents and secretaries, while the other was controlled by local lawmakers. The grassroots leaders said that though district AL politics should be controlled by the district unit leaders, but the party’s local lawmakers have been forging groups loyal to them in a bid to establish their dominance in their respective districts, which has led to some unfortunate incidents.
Talking to The Independent, Moulvibazar district AL General Secretary, Nesar Ahmed, said that it’s nothing new for local lawmakers to interfere in district politics, but now, such incidents have increased significantly, leading to an alarming upswing in intra-party feuds.
“Though district AL politics should be conducted by its presidents and secretaries, but local lawmakers are now interfering and dominating district politics and that goes against the party’s constitution,” he said, adding that if the interference of local lawmakers is not curbed immediately, it would not be possible to quell intra-party feuds.
In Moulvibazar, the last district council was held in 2006. Since then, the AL there has split into two groups. One faction is controlled by district president, Mohammad Abdus Shahid, while the other group is controlled by the Moulavibazar-3 constituency lawmaker and Social Welfare Minister, Syed Mohsin Ali.
Even in Kushtia district, the AL political unit suffered a split after the triennial district council in 2004. The two groups there conduct party programmes separately. The last council session in the district was held in 2014, but it failed to unite the factions. One faction is controlled by the newly elected president and secretary, while the other is controlled by Kushtia-4 constituency lawmaker, Abdur Rauf.
On the occasion of the 40th death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15 and the observance day of the August 21 grenade attack tragedy, AL leaders and workers were involved a bitter internal conflict over the placing of wreaths that left two AL activists dead.
Party sources said that another section of the Kushtia district AL is now being run at the instructions of Kushtia-2 constituency lawmaker and AL Joint General Secretary, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif.  Anwar Ali, president of a faction of the Kushtia District AL, told this correspondent that politics in the district is being dominated by Hanif and his relatives. “There are no politics here, except terrorist activities and Mr. Hanif patronises these terrorists and goons in a bid to establish his dominance in the district that led to an internal conflict, resulting in the death of two AL activists recently,” he said.
This correspondent found that the AL political structure suffers from similar problems in almost all the districts across the country. When contacted Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif said, “Those who are involved with the BNP or other political parties can make such statements against me. I never interfere in district politics.” He also termed the intra-party feud as stray incidents.
Meanwhile, it’s learnt that the senior leadership of the AL is unhappy with its district party leaders and involvement of workers in intra-party conflicts. The Sheikh Hasina government has already directed the law enforcement agencies to take action against those who are involved in intra-party conflicts. According to media reports, over 40 leaders and activists of the ruling AL and its associate bodies have been killed due to internal conflicts.