Rashed Khan tipped as BNP candidate in Jhenaidah-4; will Gonodhikar Parishad step aside?

Staff Correspondent

Rashed Khan, the central general secretary of the People’s Rights Council, is the BNP candidate for the Jhenaidah-4 constituency. However, Rashed Khan is seeking nomination directly from the BNP, not from the People’s Rights Council alliance.

Rashed Khan confirmed this matter over the phone at 2:16 am yesterday.

A source in the People’s Rights Council said that BNP wanted to give 2 seats to the People’s Rights Council. One would go to Nurul Haque Noor and the other to Rashed Khan. But other leaders of the People’s Rights Council were not agreeing to the proposal of these 2 seats. Their demand was at least 10 seats. Noor himself was also in a strong position regarding 10 seats. He is confident of winning his seat even without an alliance with the BNP.

But Rashed Khan was willing to accept even two seats because it would pave the way for him to become an MP with the support of BNP. Rashed Khan personally has no popularity in the area. When asked if he would remain in the People’s Rights Council if he were the BNP candidate, Rashed Khan said, ‘Yes, I will remain in all of them, trust in Allah.’

Now the question arises, is Rashed choosing this alternative path when the People’s Rights Council decided not to join the BNP under pressure from the party? A member of the People’s Rights Council’s upper council said that Rashed Khan will not have a party position if he joins the BNP.

He said, “There is no chance of being in two groups at the same time. He will have to choose one path.”

Meanwhile, Rashed Khan said that a discussion was held at the BNP office in Gulshan on Tuesday night. BNP standing committee member Salauddin Ahmed, Khulna divisional acting organizing secretary Anindya Islam Amit, and Jhenaidah district BNP president MA Majid were present there. It was announced in that discussion that he would be the BNP candidate for Jhenaidah-4 constituency.

He said that BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman has agreed to be a candidate for Jhenaidah-4 constituency on the condition that he holds a public meeting in Jhenaidah-4 constituency before the election. BNP will make an announcement very soon.

Rashed Khan is from Muraridaha village in Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila. He is the son of Nabai Biswas of that village. He is serving as the central general secretary of the People’s Rights Council.

However, BNP leaders and activists are expressing anger after this news came to light. They demanded that someone from BNP be nominated for this seat. So far, the name of a BNP candidate has been announced in only one of the four parliamentary seats in Jhenaidah, but the BNP has not announced the name of the candidate in the remaining three.