United News of Bangladesh

Tajnuva Jabeen, joint convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP), resigned from the party on Sunday, expressing strong objections to the manner in which its electoral alliance was formed. She made the announcement in a post on her verified Facebook account. In the post, Tajnuva said many were assuming her objection stemmed from ideological or gender-related concerns regarding the alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, but stressed that the real issue was “far more alarming.” “What is more frightening than ideology is the process through which this has been done. It is being labelled as political strategy or an electoral alliance. I would call it a planned move, carefully staged to reach this point,” she writes. Emphasising that trust matters more than ideology, she said the party had recently invited nominations from across the country with much fanfare, issued 125 nominations, but later decided to strike seat-sharing arrangements for only 30 constituencies—effectively barring the rest from contesting the election. “They dragged the matter to the very last moment so that no one could even contest as an independent candidate. Tomorrow is the last day for submitting nominations,” she writes, adding that although she currently has no intention to run independently, “everything has been thrown into chaos and disowned in the blink of an eye.” 30 NCP leaders urge Nahid Islam not to form alliance with Jamaat Expressing frustration, Tajnuva also dismissed media reports suggesting she opposed the alliance out of fear of losing her nomination. “I had clearly written earlier that if negotiations took place in my constituency, I would not contest the election. No matter how tough the opponent was, I was ready to fight. But that opportunity was not given,” she said. She alleged that while Jamaat-e-Islami was negotiating seat-sharing for 70 constituencies with the Charmonai Pir-led group, the party born out of the mass uprising was being allocated only 30 seats. Tajnuva had initially received the NCP’s primary nomination for the Dhaka-17 constituency and had been actively campaigning there for several days. Her resignation comes a day after senior joint member secretary of the NCP, Dr Tasnim Jara, stepped down on Saturday over the party’s decision to forge an alliance with Jamaat ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election. Besides, 30 members of the party have sent a letter to NCP convener Nahid Islam, stating their unwillingness to join any alliance with Jamaat. A central leader of the NCP, speaking on condition of anonymity, told UNB that more resignations are likely in the coming days. Tasnim Jara quits NCP; to contest as independent candidate “Not only Jara and Tajnuva—more leaders will leave the party. In particular, women leaders holding senior positions are not interested in aligning with Jamaat,” the NCP leader said.