Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader has warned party leaders and activists that the days of assuming leadership roles in the party by flexing political muscle are over.
His warning came hours after a brawl between two factions of the Awami League at Laldighi ground just before the start of the party’s Chattogram district north unit's council on Saturday.
Supporters of Gias Uddin, former upazila chairman of Mirsarai upazila, and Ataur Ataur Rahman Ata, former president of Awami League's Mirsarai Upazila wing, came to blows and hurled plastic chairs at each other.
“Everything has a limit. Leaders cannot be made through slogans. You can't be a leader with dazzling pictures on billboards. The days of becoming a leader by flexing muscle is over,” said the Awami League leader.
“Leaders will be made in accordance with the rules of the party. The leaders will be those who have sacrificed for the party and were there during its darkest hours.”
Emphasising the need to prevent infiltration into the Awami League, he said, “I want to make it clear that Awami League will never allow rogues into the party.”
“We don't need activists like the killers of BUET student Abrar. At Chattogram University, we don't need people who fight over a trifling matter. We don't need need activists who threw principles by the wayside in Rajshahi.”