Leaders of Awami League’s (AL) Cumilla city unit have claimed that all the allegations made against its mayoral hopeful for Cumilla City Corporation (CCC) election Arfanul Haque Rifat are baseless and unfounded.
They said that vested interests have started hatching plots to foil the victory of Rifat, also general secretary of AL’s Cumilla city unit.
The Prime Minister’s Office with the assistance of a government intelligence agency made a list of drug traders, smugglers, their patrons and law enforcers involved with them across the country in 2018.
The AL leaders claimed that Rifat himself is unaware about such a list.
In his address, city AL joint general secretary Atiq Ullah Khokon said daughter of Bangabandhu does not take any decision without scrutiny.
“Rifat is a dedicated party man. He was tortured several times in his political career. Such propaganda against him is a part of conspiracy,” he said.
Another city AL joint general secretary Abidur Rahman said, “The list was prepared in 2018. The question is why they (media) ran stories after Rifat was nominated. If Rifat was a drug kingpin, why had there been no news published about him before?”
They hoped that people of Cumilla would cast their votes for Rifat in the June 15 elections.
