BNP leader injured in attack by 'rival faction' after party conference in Brahmanbaria

A BNP leader was hacked allegedly by members of rival party factions while he was returning to Dhaka after a conference of Bancharampur Upazila BNP in Brahmanbaria today (20 November). 

The injured, identified as BNP Executive Committee member Takdir Hossain Md Jasim, has been admitted to a Dhaka hospital with serious injuries.

The incident took place in the Radhanagar area of Bancharampur upazila, according to local BNP activists and eyewitnesses.

Locals and party sources said a faction of Bancharampur Upazila BNP held a party conference at Radhanagar Madrasah field, where a new committee of the party's Bancharampur unit was announced amidst protest from a rival faction led by Abdul Khalek, a member of BNP's executive committee.

At the conference Central Krishak Dal's General Secretary Mehedi Hasan Palash was announced as the new president of  Bancharampur Upazila BNP and KM Musa, secretary of the unit, as the general secretary. 

Taqdir was a special guest at the conference. 

"Abdul Khalek, along with the associates of former Awami League MP Tajul Islam, tried hard to thwart the upazila BNP conference. We held the conference on the instructions of the central command. The conference was a success. Taqdir Hossain was assaulted by those who tried to disrupt the conference," alleged Brahmanbaria BNP's Member Secretary Sirajul Islam.

However, Abdul Khalek said he was not aware of any attacks on Taqdir. 

"Protests have been going on in Bancharampur ever since preparations were made to hold a conference excluding the party's oppressed root-level leaders and activists. I do not know whether Taqdir Hossain was attacked or who attacked him. I am in Dhaka," he told The Business Standard.

Tension was already high ahead of the conference in Brahmanbaria. 

Protests erupted in Bancharampur upazila since morning as the alleged Khalek-led faction opposed the party's scheduled conference.

Demonstrators blocked roads, set fires, and vandalised a microbus during the protest, causing traffic disruption on the Bancharampur-Homna road near Krishnanagar in Ujanchor union around 10:45am.

Amid heightened tension between rival groups, the local administration imposed Section 144, restricting public gatherings in and around the SM Model Pilot High School grounds, the conference venue. The prohibition will remain in effect until tomorrow evening.

Sources said one faction of the upazila BNP called the conference at the school grounds this morning. However, the opposing faction accused the organisers of enrolling Awami League members as conference voters, sparking a dispute.