Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, who created much drama surrounding his party’s participation in the recently held national election, created further friction within his party ranks yesterday, by holding meetings on the same day with the leaders who withdrew nominations on Ershad’s orders, as well as the party MPs who defied his directives.
A presidium member of the party told the Dhaka Tribune: “Ershad yesterday again played a new drama with party leaders, as is his character. He met with leaders who had withdrawn their nomination and said he will try to provide different facilities for them. However, in the evening, he [Ershad] met with leaders who had defied his order. It is a great farce played against party leaders.”
During the meeting at his Banani office in the morning, Ershad said he would reward the leaders who followed his directive to withdraw nomination papers in the January 5 polls.
A JaPa leader, who had withdrawn nomination for the national poll, said Ershad had assured that the leaders who followed his directive would be preferred for nominations in future elections.
“You have shown great respect to me by withdrawing the nomination papers from the polls [January 5] that had proved that my position in the party is strong enough,” the leader also quoted Ershad as saying.
Belal Hossain, secretary general of Jatiya Jubo Shanghati, told the Dhaka Tribune that JaPa Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader assured leaders at the meeting that Ershad, also a special envoy to the premier, would provide different facilities to those who had withdrawn their nomination.
Sources said around 150 leaders who had withdrawn their nominations were present at the meeting, where the JaPa chief also directed them to take preparations for a mid-term election.
Meanwhile, at his son’s birthday programme in the capital’s Gulshan Club later in the evening, Ershad met with JaPa MPs and other leaders of the party who had defied his orders during the national poll.
Earlier in December last year, former military dictator Ershad made dramatic shifts in his decision to participate in the poll. Following a sudden announcement of boycotting the poll, many JaPa leaders led by Ershad’s wife Rawshan Ershad, defied the former autocrat’s directives and participated in the poll to win 34 seats in parliament.
According the party’s official, 65 candidates of the party contested in the polls, but many of them were absent in the election campaigning.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
