In this November 18 photograph, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad speaks at a press briefing at his Banani office in the capital. Photo: TV grab
Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad today said his party’s ministers tried to submit their resignation letters over the last three days but the prime minister was not available for an appointment.
A smokescreen has been created over the resignation, he alleged while talking to journalists at his Baridhara residence today amid widespread confusion centring JP’s much-talked-about breakaway from the polls-time government.
The six JP ministers — four full ministers and two state ministers — did not join today’s cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat.
“Several of my ministers went to the prime minister’s office Saturday to submit their resignations, but no one accepted the letters. The ministers tried yesterday too, but they were rejected again,” said the JP chief.
“Secretary general of my party, Ruhul Amin Hawlader, is now at the prime minister’s office. He tried submitting the resignation letters to the principal secretary, but he didn’t accept those either,” Bangla daily Prothom Alo quoted Ershad as saying.
Ershad alleged that his men approached PM’s Adviser to Defence Affairs Tariq Ahmed Siddiqui with the letters, but even he did not accept those.
He said that as an army personnel, he did not want to get into any trouble, the JP chief claimed.
The decision to hand over the letters came a day after the six ministers and adviser sent their resignation letters to the PM by post yesterday.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said today that the ministers will remain in their positions until the president issues a gazette notification after receiving the resignation letters from the ministers.
Ershad dramatically announced on Tuesday that his party would not take part in the January 5 polls since a “proper atmosphere” for the election was missing.
A day later, he asked his party’s leaders to quit the polls-time cabinet and from the post of adviser to the prime minister. He also instructed the party’s aspirant lawmakers to withdraw their nomination papers.
Earlier on November 18, Ershad left the Awami League-led grand alliance and urged the BNP to join the election “to save the country and maintain the democratic process”.
Source: The Daily Star
