Online Desk: The Awami League secretariat today recommended permanent expulsion of suspended Gazipur City mayor Zahangir Alam. A secretary level meeting of the ruling party, with general secretary Obaidul Quader in the chair, held at the party president’s Dhanmondi office, made the recommendation, said party sources.

The meeting resolution will be sent to AL President Sheikh Hasina for the final decision. According to insiders, AL joint general secretary Bahauddin Nasim raised the issue at the meeting and demanded Zahangir’s permanent expulsion and most of the participants endorsed his proposal.

Nasim told the meeting that after getting the party amnesty, Zahangir is working against the party and thus he should be expelled forever, said sources. Ignoring the party directive, Zahangir decided to contest the upcoming city poll against party nominated candidate Azamat Ullah Khan. The Election Commission later cancelled his nomination as Zahangir was a loan defaulter as a guarantor.

But Zahangir is now campaigning for his mother Zaida Kahtun, an independent mayoral candidate. Zahangir was elected Gazipur mayor in 2018 on the AL ticket. He also became the general secretary of Gazipur city AL.

But on November 19, 2021, he was expelled from the party after he was seen in a viral footage making derogatory remarks about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and expressing doubts about the number of martyrs in the Liberation War.

Seven days after his expulsion, the government suspended him as mayor. The ruling party, however, granted him amnesty on January 21 this year on the condition that any further violation of organisation’s rules by him would be deemed unforgivable.