Pankaj Debnath, the lawmaker of Barishal-4 P(Hizla-Mehendiganj), has been suspended from all posts of Awami League (AL) on charges of violating the party discipline.
In this regard, a letter signed by AL office secretary Biplob Barua was issued on Monday and later in the afternoon it was forwarded to the Barishal unit AL president Abul Hasnat Abdullah and general secretary Talukder Md Yunus.
When asked, lawmaker Pankaj Debnath said, “I received a letter concerning the matter from the central office. I have nothing to say at this moment.”
The letter reads, “As per the party constitution, AL executive committee has removed you from all AL posts including the advisory post of Barishal district unit AL, for violating the party rules and regulations. You are requested to submit your written explanation of the above-mentioned issue to the central AL office within the next 15 days.”
The Awami League said there is a longstanding feud between two factions of AL at Mehendiganj in Barishal. Centering the enmity, several people were murdered during the last Union Parishad (UP) elections.
Of the factions, one is led by Upazila AL president Maidul Islam and general secretary and pourashava mayor Kamal Khan with support from district AL while the other by MP Pankaj Debnath.
Sources said the followers of both groups hacked one another, storming into the emergency unit of the hospital at Mehendiganj on 28 August that left six leaders and activists wounded.
While the injured belonged to the group of Upazila AL president and secretary, the accused ones were the followers of Pankaj Debnath. Of the injured, four were taken to Barishal for better treatment.
District unit AL general secretary, Talukder Md Yunus, told that they received a letter over the expulsion of Pankaj Debnath from the party.
He said MP Pankaj took various kinds of ill attempts against local AL leaders in the last four years, including killing, repressing and implicating them in false cases, to divide the party at Mehendiganj in a bid to establish his supremacy.
In the context of these incidents, the central committee has come up with the decision, the general secretary added.
