Awami League-led 14-party alliance has formally announced that it would back AL-favoured mayoral candidate AJM Nasir Uddin in Chittagong City Corporation polls.

The announcement came after an alliance meeting at the Chittagong city AL office yesterday afternoon.

After the meeting, AL Publicity Secretary Hasan Mahmud said the decision to support Nasir was taken to relieve the city dwellers of waterlogging and to make Chittagong a clean city.

"The city became dirty in the last five years," he said, adding that, sometimes, people had to cover their noses with handkerchiefs to avoid the stink of dirt on the city streets.

Bangladesh Tariqat Federation Chairman Nazibul Bashar Maijbhandari, another meeting participant, urged the BNP to withdraw the blockade and hartal.

President of Chittagong city AL ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, who presided over the meeting, said they had decided to work together to present the city dwellers with a clean, self-dependent and planned city.

AJM Nasir, general secretary of Chittagong city AL, was also present at the meeting with other leaders of the 14-party combine.