Awami League rebel candidate Masud Parvez Khan Imran has withdrawn his candidature from the Cumilla City Corporation (CCC) election by extending his support to the party contestant.

He came up with the announcement at the auditorium of Cumilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday afternoon after an AL team, led by its General Secretary Obaidul Quader, held a meeting with him and his sister and ruling party lawmaker from reserved seat Anjum Sultana Sima in this regard.

“I’ll ask my fellow leaders and activists to start working for the ‘Boat’ symbol. I’ve also started working to present ‘Boat’ to the party president as victorious. Because ‘Boat’ doesn’t belong to any person, it’s the symbol of Bangabandhu, the symbol of Sheikh Hasina,” Imran added.

He, however, alleged that he who got the party ticket did not include any of their leaders and activists in the election campaign committee. “We’ll work for the party-nominated candidate whether they call me or not. We’re on the field for ‘Boat’,” he added.

A member of AL Information Affairs Subcommittee and president of Cumilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Imran is the son of late Afzal Khan who lost to Monirul Huq Sakku in the maiden polls to Cumilla City Corporation in 2012.

In the last election in 2017, Sakku defeated Afzal’s daughter Sima.

This time, the ruling party nominated Arfanul Haque Rifat, general secretary of city AL, as its candidate in the polls. He is known as a close aide to local lawmaker AKM Bahauddin Bahar.