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Murad Jong shows strength to woo AL high-ups

Rally turns electoral

Staff Correspondent
Ruling Awami League (AL) lawmaker Talukder Towhid Jong Murad, an alleged patron of the collapsed Rana Plaza's owner Sohel Rana, staged a massive show of support at the Awami League rally in the capital's Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday.
With the national election knocking on the door, he arrived with supporters in over 300 buses at the venue, attempting to draw the attention of the party high-ups.
One supporter, claiming to be one Mohiuddin from Bangla Bazar of Savar, holding a poster bearing Murad's picture admitted to The Daily Star that he gotTk 300 and a packet ofbiryani for attending the rally. He said most of the supporters got the same benefit from Murad.
Sohel rose to the top of Savar's underworld in the last four years under the direct patronage of Murad, the local MP.
Murad claimed having no link - familial, social, economical or political - with Sohel and challenged that he would quit politics if anyone could prove his association with Sohel.
Just 20 minutes after the nine-storey garment factory collapsed on April 24 claiming over 1,130 lives, Murad had called Sohel, as per Rab sources, to enquire about his condition.
Soon after, Sohel was whisked off to a hospital allegedly on Murad's microbus. He told reporters later that Murad was like an elder brother to him.
Moreover, Murad was not even allowed to accompany Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her visit to the collapse site in April for his close relations with Sohel.
Though organised marking Jail Killing Day, yesterday's rally turned into an electoral one for it was a chance for nomination seekers to show their strength and get party high-ups' blessings.
Portraits of the four national leaders, Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad, M Mansur Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman, shot dead inside Dhaka Central Jail on the day in 1975, were barely seen.
The venue was instead almost covered with posters, banners, festoons and portraits of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, AL President Sheikh Hasina and lawmakers and nomination seekers.
Tight security measures, including CCTV cameras, were seen around the venue to avoid any untoward situation.
Prospective candidates, lawmakers and AL leaders and activists started thronging the venue from 11:00am although the meeting started around 2:30pm and Hasina arrived around 3:30pm.