The rift become apparent when a section of party leaders at a meeting there opposed candidature of renowned orthopedics Dr. AFM Ruhul Haque, Satkhira district AL senior vice-president and president of Bangladesh Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad from the 14-party opposition alliance, party sources said.

Dr. Ruhul Haque lost to the four-party coalition candidate in Kaligonj-Debhata constituency in the last election.

Other aspirants for AL ticket from the constituency in the next election are Kaligonj upazila AL president Sheikh Wahiduzzaman, Kazi Abdul Hakim and Abdul Gani. They are lobbying with party high-ups and have started mass contact in the area.

AL leaders and activists in the area are virtually divided into two groups, one supporting Haque and the other seeking nomination for district AL vice president and former lawmaker Monsur Ahmed.

The group supporting Monsur Ahmed held a meeting convened by district AL religious affairs secretary Abdul Gani on Monday at Noapara Union Parishad auditorium in Debhata upazila with Abdul Gani in the chair.

It was addressed by, among others, Monsur Ahmed, Sheikh Wahiduzzaman, Kazi Abdul Hakim, Sheikh Haroon-ur-Rashid, Sheikh Abdur Rouf, Akbar Ali and Altaf Hossain.

They said they will resist if AL nominates any candidate other than Monsur.

Division in AL started after the party nominated Dr. Ruhul Haque in the last general elections held on October 1 in 2001.

Fomer MP Monsur Ahmed was elected from the constituency in 1886 and 1991 general elections as an AL candidate but defeated by Jatiya Party candidate Shahdat Hossain in 1996 election.

Monsur was blamed for backing some people who evicted about 1000 landless families to grab government lands in Debhata and Kaligonj upazilas during the AL rule.

On July 27 in 1998, landless woman Zaheda Khatun was killed and over 300 people including women and children were injured in a series of clashes with goons hired by the land grabbers.

The incident sparked public protests across the district.

In the wake of protests, AL president and the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina dissolved the district AL committee headed by late Syed Kamal Bakht and Monsur Ahmed for their 'anti-people role' on August 8 in 1998.

Kaligonj upazila AL general secretary Asadur Rahman Khan, when contacted, said Monsur Ahmed did not get party nomination in 2001 because of his anti-people role in 1998.

This correspondent also talked to Kaliganj upaila AL vice president and former Union Parishad chairman Matiur Rahman, Bishnupur AL president Samir Kumar Mondal and some other local party leaders including Gobinda Lal Sarkar Abdus Sattar, Siddiqur Rahman and Abdul Jabbar. They said they would support nomination of Dr. Ruhul Haque because he is honest and a popular leader.

He will win the election, if nominated, they said.

On contact, district AL president Engineer Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman and general secretary Nazrul Islam said that the meeting was held in violation of party constitution and action will be taken against them after consulting party high-ups.