JP may meet Jan 31 to talk thorny issues

In response to calls from party leaders, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has decided to convene a joint meeting on January 31 to discuss the appointment of GM Quader as JP co-chair and removal of Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu from the post of secretary general.

He will make the formal announcement of the meeting at a reception of JP's newly appointed Secretary General Ruhul Amin Hawlader and Co-Chair GM Quader at Ershad's Banani office today, party sources said.

However, the rival group led by Ershad's wife Raushan Ershad and Bablu will boycott the reception, added the sources.

The joint meeting is likely to be held at the Krishibid Institution at the capital's Farmgate where both the groups will attend.

JP leaders and activists are sharply divided over Ershad's sudden announcement on January 17, making his younger brother Quader the party co-chairman. The post does not exist in the party charter.

Bablu and some JP MPs, including three ministers, on the following day rejected Quader's appointment and named Raushan, also leader of the opposition, the party's acting chair. Interestingly, this post too does not exist in JP charter. 

The crisis deepened further as Ershad on Tuesday removed Bablu from his post and appointed Hawlader as JP secretary general.

Most of the JP MPs on the same day asked Ershad to hold a meeting of the party's presidium and decide on GM Quader's fate through discussions.

Ershad however rejected the call, saying he would not change his decision.

Raushan on Saturday wrote a letter to Ershad, reiterating the party lawmakers' call, but Ershad turned down her request as well.

In the wake of this widening rifts, Ershad on advice of GM Quader agreed to hold the party's joint meeting, sources said.

Presidents and secretaries of JP district units, upazila units, presidium members, MPs, leaders of JP central executive committee and chiefs of JP's front organisations have been asked to attend the meeting.

On Sunday, Quader told The Daily Star that he would not remain in the new post if majority of the party leaders did not want him to.