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AL looks for fresh blood in quest of change

Hasan Jahid Tusher
Awami League's (AL) new central committee, which is likely to be elected in April this year by a long delayed national council of the party, might look much younger. .
Party sources said most of the incumbent members of die presidium, the highest policy making forum of the party, and some other central leaders might be dropped from the new central committee, as party President Sheikh Hasina wants to bring forward young leaders in a bid to prepare the party for the long run.
Some of the old guards will likely be appointed as members of the party's advisory council to clear the way for the younger generation of leaders who are currendy the majority in the AL parliamentary party and also in the cabinet of the new government led by it, the sources said.
Some of the old leaders are even likely to be excluded from
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the advisory council as well, for their 'controversial' roles during the post 1/11 period, the sources added.
They said one of the AL joint general secretaries Obaidul Quader or Syed Ashraful Islam might replace incumbent General Secretary Abdul Jalil.
Some of them however said the new general secretary might even be elected from among the central leaders who are not holding any cabinet portfolio.
A good number of the younger AL lawmakers are also likely to be appointed as chiefs of many parliamentary standing committees while many grassroots level leaders might be included in high level party committees, considering records of their per formances in recent years, the sources added.
Encouraged by the younger generation AL nominees' performance in the recent parliamentary election as most of them managed to win. Hasina plans to gradually hand over the party's leader-
ship to the new generation, according to a close aide to the party president.
More than a half of the 228 AL lawmakers were elected to the parliament for the first time through a landslide victory in the recent election.
Talking to The Daily Star some of the central AL leaders said most of the senior leaders would have been excluded from the leadership anyway, even if the national council would have been held on time
The last council of AL was held on December 26, 2002 where Sheikh Hasina was re-elected as the president of the party for the sixth time since 1981.
Although the next two triennial councils were supposed to be held on December 26,2005 and 2008 according to the party constitution, AL could not hold those on time because in 2005 the party was submerged in an antigovernment movement, and in last year the due date was just three days before the national election, preceding which there was a state of emergency in the country.
AL has 73 organisational districts with 25 councillors from each district, and an additional 25 councillors are selected by the party president. The number of councillors to a national council is 1,850 -- excluding the 73-member central and 166-member national committees. The president, presidium members, general secretary, departmental secretaries and the treasurer of the party are elected to their posts by the councillors of triennial councils, according to the AL constitution.
The sources said Hasina, who is also the prime minister of the country, had a plan to transfer some of the senior leaders to the party's advisory council ahead of the last national council held in 2002, but could not do that due to pressures from within and outside the party.
But this time around, emboldened by her success in leading the party to the landslide electoral victory, her vulnerability to the pressure is almost minimum, said a senior
leader preferring anonymity.
Hasina already hinted to her close party associates that she has plans to bring radical changes to the organisation, according to the sources.
AL might also reorganise most of its metropolitan, district and upazila unit committees, which have been functioning with expired committees for years. The party could not elect new committees in more than 10 districts for over 10 years.
Apart from the reason of electing a new leadership. AL also must hold its national council within six months of the first sitting of the first session of ninth parliament, to ratify the provisional changes it biought to its constitution in order to comply with the amended Representation of the People Order.
Like all other parliamentary political parties, AL also got registered with the Election Commission before the recent poll by bringing the provisional changes to its constitution in order to meet the criteria for registration.