Shawdesh desk:

A faction of Gonoforum, led by Mostafa Mohsin Montu, on Tuesday removed the party founder Dr Kamal Hossain from the post of chief advisor to its committee.

Besides, the faction’s presidium member Mizanur Rahman was expelled from the party.

Mostafa Mohsin Montu, president of the Gonoforum faction, came up with the announcement at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

He said that a meeting of their faction’s central committee on Monday unanimously decided to relieve Dr Kamal Hossain from the post of chief adviser and expel Mizanur Rahman from the presidium and the general membership of the party.

On Saturday, a 101-member committee of Gonofroum, led by Dr Kamal, was announced with Dr Kamal its president and Mizanur Rahman general secretary.

On December 3, 2021, Gonoforum suffered a split as the Montu-led group formed a 157-member committee of the party through a council dropping its founder president Dr Kamal Hossain from the post of president. Mizanur Rahman was also made a presidium member of the faction.

At the press conference, Montu turned down a 101-member new committee of Dr Kamal-led faction claiming the formation of the committee was completely unconstitutional and undemocratic. ‘No committee of Gonorforum can be formed as per whim of any individual. Only the councillors have the jurisdiction to do that.’

He alleged that two more committees of Gonoforum were formed earlier under the leadership of Dr Kamal ignoring the councillors.

‘When the senior leaders of the party indulge in undemocratic and unconstitutional activities, the party activists and common people get disappointed. Personally, I respect Dr Kamal Hossain, but his actions in the current political arena are becoming questionable among the common people,’ Montu said.

A close associate of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Dr Kamal Hossain founded Gonoforum on August 29, 1993 deserting Awami League.

Dr Kamal has been there in the post of party president since its inception.

Conflicts among the party leaders began after its fifth council held on April 26, 2019, as many party leaders, including then general secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu, were left out of the committee formed there.

On May 5, 2019, Dr Kamal made Dr Reza Kibria general secretary of Gonoforum, dropping Mostafa Mohsin Montu, widening conflicts among the party leaders.

Amid the internal conflict, Dr Reza Kibria resigned from Gonoforum and its post of general secretary on February 7, 2021, but it was not enough to evade a split of the party.