The Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) is likely to contest the upcoming national election with the ruling Awami League’s polls symbol ‘boat’.
According to people familiar with the negotiations, the IOJ wanted four parliamentary seats but the ruling party assured of giving three seats to its candidates.
“Islami Oikya Jote’s politics is based on the ideology of Islam. We have no problem to reach an agreement with a party, if it serves Islam,” IOJ Vice Chairman Maulana Abul Hasnat told Bangla Tribune.
On the possibility of using the AL’s polls symbol, he said, “Our symbol is ‘minaret, but the Awami League has proposed it to use ‘boat’, which has the benefit of bagging the Awami League votes.”
The IOJ leader, however, said the decision to use ‘boat’ as polls symbol is yet to be finalised.
“Despite differences of opinions within the party, we have agreed in principle to contest the polls with the boat symbol to avoid risk,” he said.
According to party insiders, the IOJ wants Narsingdi-3 for its Chairman Abdul Latif Nezami, Chattogram -7 for Secretary General Mufti Md Fayezullah, Brahmanbaria – 2 or 3 for Vice Chairman Hasnat and Cumilla-1 for Assistant Secretary General Altaf Hossain.
The Awami League, however, agreed for three, which means Secretary General Fayezullah will not be contesting, they said.
The IOJ has been an ally of the BNP for 17 years until 2016, when it announced that it was leaving the 20-party Alliance.
In Januray1999, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia announced the formation of a Four-Party alliance with the HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the IOJ to launch a movement against the then Awami League-led government.
Since then, the IOJ has been a part of the BNP-led front that later grew into the present 20-Party alliance. The party had won two seats in Parliament in the 2001 elections.