The Awami League will choose its leaders on dedication and merit not muscle, says its General Secretary Obaidul Quader.
"Leaders cannot be made through slogans. No one can be a leader by just putting up pictures on billboards. The days of becoming a leader by flexing muscle is over," he said on Saturday (Dec 7).
Addressing the party's Chattogram North unit Council, Quader said warned that the Awami League will not allow rogues into the party.
His warning came hours after a clash between two factions of the local party unit.
Earlier in the day, supporters of Gias Uddin, former upazila chairman of Mirsarai upazila, and Ataur Ataur Rahman, former president of Mirsarai upazila Awami League, came to blows and hurled plastic chairs at each other before the start of the council at the port city's Laldighi grounds.
Leaders will be made in line with the party's charter. Those who have been devoted to the party and were there during its darkest hours will assume leadership roles, said Quader.
“We don't need activists like the killers of BUET student Abrar. At Chattogram University, we don't need people who fight over trivial matters. We don't need activists like those in Rajshahi, who threw a [college] principal to the pond,” said the senior Awami League leader.