Palak’s brother-in-law withdraws his candidacy from Upazila election

Lutful Habib Rubel, brother-in-law of State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, has announced withdrawal of his nomination for Singra Upazila chairman in Natore over allegations that he ordered the abduction and torture of a rival, according to bdnews24.com.

He made the announcement in a video message on Sunday morning, but denied the allegations, claiming they were part of a conspiracy. Rubel, a former president of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s local college unit, said he had resigned from the union council to contest the Upazila Parishad polls.

“I’m not involved in the incident. It was a conspiracy against me. Different groups are working to keep me away from the election,” he said, without providing further details. Rubel said he would complete the formalities of nomination withdrawal as soon as possible on orders from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to bar families of MPs and ministers from contesting the Upazila polls. He said Palak also instructed him to withdraw.

Md Jannatul Ferdous, president of Singra Upazila Awami League and mayor of Singra Municipality, said he received the video message and was informed about the withdrawal of Rubel’s nomination.

Palak visited Rubel’s rival Delwar Hossain at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and offered an apology on Friday. The state minister for ICT also vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.

A group of people picked up Delwar by a microbus from outside the District Election Officer's office in Natore last Monday. They left the chairman candidate in front of his house several hours later.

Delwar’s family blamed Rubel and police said one of the two people arrested over the incident admitted to committing the crime on behalf of Rubel.

Rubel is Joint General Secretary of Awami League’s Singra Upazila unit. He also served as Sherkole Union Council chairman.