Jatiya Party secretary general Mujibul Haque Chunnu had become Member of Parliament (MP) from Kishoreganj-3 (Karimganj to Tarail) constituency for 5 terms. Jatiya Party had no strong position in the constituency; however, due to the concession given from the alliance, he became MP of that constituency. Once, he had good economic condition, but had no capacity to compete in the election. At the beginning, he collected money as donations from well-wishers and relatives to compete in the elections. But, now, he possesses Tk thousands of crore.
Chunnu has got the chance of ascending into the power relying on the position and support of Awami League. Karimganj Upazila Awami League convener committee member Shamim Ahmed of Nayakandi village said that when Chunnu decided to compete in the election in 2001, I saw his financial plight up close. At that time, he sold a house and two buses in Kishoreganj to financially assist him to get elected.
In that election, supporters of Chunnu seized a polling station in Karimganj, forcibly sealed and robbed ballot boxes. Later, Chunnu lost in the by-election of that centre. But since 2008, he has become the owner of Tk thousands of crores. This grassroots leader said that he also has a house in Canada. Several leaders of Karimganj said that his fortunes changed after he became the state minister of labor and employment in the Awami League-led government in 2014. The source said that at that time, he had stolen Tk hundreds of crores from the garments sector. Pavel, a senior leader of BNP in Karimganj town, said that Chunnu initially collected donations from well-wishers and relatives. Now, thousands of crores of Tk is in his possession. This leader demanded an investigation by the ACC to investigate how he became the owner of such a huge amount of money.
During his tenure as MP, he only laid the foundation stone of the development works and inaugurated it after completion of the works. His personal assistant (APS) Amirul Islam Khan Bablu did the main work. Basically Bablu was Chunnu's confidant and dabbled in corruption. The issue of Bablu's corruption in both upazilas has now become the talk of the town. Despite being a member of Awami League's central sub-committee on Youth and Sports Affairs, Bablu unhesitatingly performed the duties of APS of Jatiya Party MP. At the time of Chunnu’s tenure in power, corruption in various projects including sharing of project works, awarding tenders to own contractors, distribution of special projects, agricultural machinery and agriculture-related projects, TR-Kabikha, 40-day job creation was an open secret. Locals said that as MP Chunnu has benefited through all this, APS Bablu has also become millionaire.
Chunnu's beginning as an MP was not at all pleasant. Witnesses at that time said that they resorted to vote robbery to become MP for the first time in elections in 1986. Chunnu's younger brother Shafiqul Islam was killed in a mob thrashing while trying to rob votes. After that he copied the same process in every election. When the 12th National Assembly elections were opened for Awami League candidates, Chunnu became tensed over the future. Several influential candidates of Awami League participated in the election as independent candidates in this seat. In this situation, the rival candidates complained that the he became successful in the election somehow by pouring a large amount of money into the center to buy the voters and activists. After the fall of the Hasina government, he did not come to the area again. Now the locals have turned against him. On August 25, in Karimganj, they declared Chunnu as person non-grata and held brooms and shoe procession. At the end of the procession, an effigy of Japa General Secretary Chunnu was cremated. They called Chunnu one of the 'households' of the Awami League government and demanded a fair investigation into the corruption and his arrest.
BDST: 1720 HRS, OCT 20, 2024
