Mokobbir Khan had to leave the office of Dr Kamal Hossain as the Gono Forum chief, angry at the new MP taking oath defying the party, reprimanded him during a visit.
Mokobbir went to Dr Kamal’s chamber at Motijheel two days after being sworn in as a Member of Parliament on Thursday.
The party’s Executive President Subrata Chowdhury, Jatiya Oikya Prokriya leader Nurul Huda Milu Chowdhury and Oikyabaddha Chhatra Samaj General Secretary Mohammad Ullah Modhu were at Dr Kamal’s office at the time.
“Sir became furious when Mokobbir Khan came and said ‘Salam’. (Dr Kamal) told him: ‘Leave this place right now! Get out! Get out! The doors to my office and chamber are closed for you forever!’,” said Milu.
Mokobbir could not be reached for comment immediately.
Dr Kamal-led Jatiya Oikya Front alliance of the Gono Forum, the BNP, and some other parties decided not to send their eight MPs-elect to parliament alleging widespread rigging and other irregularities in the Dec 30 polls.
Mokobbir and Sultan Muhammed Mansur Ahmed, who were elected as Oikya Front candidates from the Gono Forum, however, sought to take oath.
Sultan took oath as scheduled on Mar 7 but Mokobbir backtracked on his decision saying he would get clearance of the party first.
Mokobbir, a member of the Gono Forum’s presidium, later wrote to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury requesting her to arrange the swearing-in and finally took oath on Tuesday.
He said he had permission of his party to take oath, a claim other leaders refuted.
The Gono Forum expelled Sultan hours after he took oath, but is going slow on Mokobbir.
On Thursday evening, General Secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu said in a statement that the party was “shocked” at Mokobbir’s activities “against its ideals”.
It would take organisational action against Mokobbir and any other member involved in his swearing-in as MP.
The statement claimed that Dr Kamal, Montu, and other central leaders were not aware of Mokobbir’s oath and that it was his personal decision.
The party brushed aside Mokobbir’s claim that he had party permission as “untrue, flimsy, baseless and misleading”.
This is for the first time the Gono Forum has representation in parliament.
Mokobbir is the first to win any election with its ‘rising sun’ symbol. Sultan used the BNP’s ‘paddy sheaf’.
