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City AL President AKM Jahangar said, “We will participate in the polls campaign according to the directives to be given by our guardian Abul Hasanat Abdullah in a joint meeting of the district and metropolitan committees of the party.”
However, supporters of Khair said this is a ploy of wasting time by the followers of the mayor.
AL leader Torun Chanda alleged that such a situation has arisen because Hasanat and his son Sadiq only gave priority to their supporters in the party for a long time.
Mayor Sadiq has absolute control over the Barisal city AL while his father Hasanat, also a lawmaker from Barishal-1, has total influence over the district unit of the party. The two did not take part in any party activities since the AL’s nomination board picked Khair as its mayoral candidate.
After Khair was picked, a section of AL leaders who were “politically cornered” by the followers of the mayor became active. Among them are supporters of State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque, also a lawmaker from Barishal-5.
When the mayoral nominee came to Barisal from Dhaka with some central AL leaders on April 20, the anti-Sadiq faction welcomed Khair and held a reception at the city AL office .
Five central AL leaders, including Abdur Rahman and Nanak, were present at the event, but almost all city, district and ward unit leaders of the party and the supporters of Sadiq and Hasanat did not show up.
Only the Barishal city AL president, AKM Jahangir, and district AL general secretary, Talukder Md Younus, addressed that event. The two, however, are now not accompanying the party mayoral candidate during his “campaign”.
AL leaders said as the opposition BNP, which is boycotting the polls, has a huge vote bank in Barishal city, a united polls campaign for the ruling party nominee is a must to ensure his win.
Speaking at an event marking the inauguration of Khair’s campaign office on Sadar Road in Barishal city on April 28, AL presidium member Nanak said, “Those who are in the party have no scope to oppose the candidate nominated by Sheikh Hasina.”
Many, however, said that the outcome of the next city polls may be similar to that of the 2013 Barishal city polls.
In that election, AL nominee Shawkat Hossain Hiran lost to BNP candidate Ahsan Habib Kamal by a margin of about 15,000 votes as the party faction loyal to Hasanat either refrained from voting or did not vote for “boat”, said party leaders.
Late mayor Ahsan’s son Kamrul Ahsan Rupan has announced that he would take part in the mayoral polls as an independent.
The last date for filing nomination papers is May 16 and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is May 25.
Khair earlier this week said if anyone doesn’t take part in polls campaign, the party high-ups will look into it.
This newspaper could not reach Sadiq for comments as he did not pick up calls.
Suspect arrested in deadly Atlanta hospital shooting
AFP,
Washington
Police have arrested a man suspected of shooting five people -- one of whom died -- at an Atlanta hospital on Wednesday, authorities in the southern US city said.
One person was killed and four were injured when Deion Patterson allegedly opened fire in a hospital waiting room just after midday (1700 GMT). Patterson then allegedly stole a truck that had been left running at a nearby gas station and fled.
A manhunt went into the night before Patterson was apprehended outside the city in neighboring Cobb County.
“Law enforcement have taken the suspect into custody,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said at a news conference Wednesday evening.
“He will be charged and stand trial for his crimes.”
Patterson was detained “without incident,” said Cobb County police chief Stuart VanHoozer.
The victims, all women, were aged between 25 and 71, police said at an earlier news conference.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office later identified the woman shot and killed as Amy St. Pierre, 38, CNN reported.
St. Pierre worked for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency told the broadcaster.
Three other women were in intensive care and a fourth victim was in stable condition, CNN reported.
Police chief Darin Schierbaum said local authorities received assistance in the search for Patterson from multiple agencies, including the FBI and the Secret Service.
Patterson had been accompanied in the hospital waiting room by his mother, who was not injured in the shooting, Schierbaum said. CNN reported he became “enraged” during a visit before opening fire.
It was too soon to know if any of the victims were targeted specifically, Schierbaum added. The suspect’s family cooperated with the investigation, he said.
As police were scouring the greater Atlanta area, they published a photo of Patterson, wearing dark pants, a hood over his head and a white surgical mask, wielding a handgun.
Television footage showed police and other law enforcement officers deployed at the scene. Multiple ambulances were also present.
The shooting sent several schools near the hospital into temporary lockdown.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have dispatched officers at every school for today’s dismissal,” Atlanta Public Schools announced on its website once the lockdowns were lifted.
The White House said President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed on the shooting.
Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the president’s hands were tied on “more steps to deal with the violence that we’re seeing in our communities or schools or churches.”
“American people should be able to feel free to go into a grocery store, to go to church,” Jean-Pierre said.
There have been more than 190 mass shootings -- defined as four or more people wounded or killed -- so far this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
With more firearms than inhabitants, the United States has the highest rate of gun-related deaths of any developed country: 49,000 in 2021, up from 45,000 the year before.