ailTTAGOSiG. July 6: Internal feud in file Chittagong chapter of Jatiy a Party has been crippling its activity here ever since the ousting of Ershad government in the face of popular movement of 1990. Most of the JP leaders here went into hiberna tkm after the tall of their government and when they somehow surfac'd by and by they did less than half a will and that too covered all the way by internecine conflkl

JP leadership in the port city suf fered a straight diviskin following a fall mt between former mayor Mah mudul Islam iiowdhury and former MP of Kotwali constituency, Harun KhaiL Parts insiders say Malimudul K bull's slip|M-n and dunging stand on many an issue angered most of its party workers and supporters here leading to a division. To compound his unhelping role Malimudul Islam contested in tile '91 general elections from his home constituency Ban skhali as an independent candidate rather than earning the Jatiya Party banner got a miserable defeat

later on when Jatiy a Party somewhat recovered it. ok! ground. Lslam reappeared as president of the city committee akMig with Jahangir Alam as its general secretary overriding protests trcMii the lEirun Khan group.

Harun Khan who is a vice-president on the Islam committee, how ever, continued calling himself, as accepted by his group, as the president of the committee.

Abu Naser Choudhury told The Daily Star that JP activity in hit ugong port city was badly affected by k adcrship crisis and internal feud.

The feuding groups then started liolding m paratc meeting and rallies and oikc they even came to a violent c lash during a meeting held last year atJM Sen Halt

Ilie central leaders, on several oc i askins. tried to heal the fissure but failed as Harun Khan group, backed by two former kxal ministers. Anisul Islam Mahmud and Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu. refused to accept Mahmudul Islam s k-adership in the city.

Meanwhile as Harun Khan is now indisposed, his supporters are re portedly trying to float new city committee of JP here with two former deputy mayors of Chittagong city corporation, Abu Naser Chowdhury. and Dostagir howdhury respccthely as president and general secretary and are awaiting approval aixl support from the central presidium.

Naser, also a senior vice-president of the existing city committee, said "Our party politics here has been crippled only due to presence of some self-seeking and opportunist type of people inside the party".

Wlwn contacted over telephone. Mahmudul Islam, however, claimed that there was no feud and no disunity in his party at the Chittagong level He said, a little trouble that may remain in his party at Chittagong was all loo common inside other po litical parties in the city.

Islam was confident that "so far greater Chittagong is concerned. I am still holding the steering”. Mention may be made here dial Mahmudul Islam was once elected MP from Ban-skhaii constituency with a BNP ticket during the Zia regime.