Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad yesterday asked his party leaders, contesting the coming polls along with Awami League and Jatiya Oikyafront candidates, to stay in the race till the last moment.
He came up with the instruction when a number of JP leaders met him at the Dhaka Combined Military Hospital (CMH) or talked to him over phone, said party sources.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Later in the day, Ershad left for Singapore for a check-up.
The development came a day after the JP, aggrieved at getting only 29 seats from the ruling Awami League, decided to field its candidates in 145 other constituencies.
In Ershad's absence, Ruhul Amin Hawlader will act as the party chief, the party sources said.
Hawlader was removed from the JP's secretary general post on December 3. Later on Saturday, Ershad said Hawlader's status in the party was “next to the chairman”.
Talking to reporters at the party chief's Banani office yesterday, Mashiur Rahman Ranga, who replaced Hawlader as the secretary general, said JP leaders and activists were not happy as the party got only 29 seats from its electoral partner AL.
He, however, said his party accepted the decision in the “interest of the grand alliance”.
In 100 out of the 145 seats, AL candidates will face contenders from the JP as well as from the alliances of the BNP, including the 20-party and the Jatiya Oikyafront.
The AL has fielded candidates in 258 out of the 300 constituencies and left 42 seats for its partners in the grand alliance comprised of JP and 14 other parties.
JP leaders said they got only 29 seats although they bargained for over 40 throughout last week.
Besides, two of the 29 seats will “remain open” since the grand alliance has nominated AL and Workers Party candidates in those constituencies.
So the JP has actually been given 27 seats as it will have the AL as its challenger in Kurigram-1 and Workers Party in Barishal-3, added the leaders.
JP and Workers Party have incumbent lawmakers in Kurigram-1 and Barishal-3 respectively.
Talking to reporters yesterday, Ranga claimed that the participation of JP leaders in elections in those 145 constituencies would not harm the grand alliance.
Besides, the “open seats” would create enthusiasm among the JP leaders and activists, he added.
One of the JP leaders, going to contest from one of those seats, visited Ershad at the CMH earlier in the day. Talking to The Daily Star later, the leader said the JP boss asked him not to quit the election race in any circumstances as “he has high chances of winning”.
“Take the election very seriously and don't leave the election battle. My blessings are with you,” the leader quoted Ershad as telling him.
Several other JP leaders also talked about the instruction.
They said Ershad would start electioneering in full swing after his return from Singapore. They however could not say when he would come back.
ERSHAD FLIES TO SINGAPORE
A plane carrying Ershad left the Dhaka airport around 10:45pm, Maj (retd) Khaled Akhtar, personal assistant to the JP chief, told The Daily Star.
JP Presidium Member and lawmaker Ziauddin Ahmed, who failed to get party nomination for Chattogram-9, was accompanying him, he said.
On December 6, appearing in public for the first time since November 20, Ershad claimed that he was not being allowed to go abroad for treatment despite his illness.
Ershad, known as an unpredictable politician, however, did not name anyone in this regard.
When the January 5, 2014 election was in the offing, the JP chief became the centre piece of a long-drawn drama for his flip-flops over joining the polls. Announcing that the JP would not participate in the election, he had asked his party candidates to withdraw their nomination papers.
However, a section of JP leaders decided to join the polls. Ershad was elected a lawmaker as he “could not” withdraw his candidature from Rangpur-3.
Later, he was appointed a special envoy to the prime minister with the status of a minister. He is still holding the post.
Leave your comments