JP to quit cabinet: GM Quader

Jatiya Party Presidium members have decided to quit the cabinet, party’s newly appointed Co-chairman GM Quader said today.

“Jatiya Party politics is not clear to the people. We will have to come out of the cabinet to clear our stance as an opposition party,” said the JP leader.

“Most of the presidium members of the party have given their opinions to quit the cabinet as a primary step of the party,” Quader told reporters after a presidium meeting of the party at its Banani office.

Responding to a query, Quader said JP Chairperson HM Ershad will made announcement in this regard at an appropriate time.

Jatiya Party, the main opposition party in parliament, will hold its ninth national council on April 16 to strengthen the party’s organisational activities across the country.

“We have decided to hold our party’s national council on April 16 to boost the organisational strength as an opposition party,” JP’s newly appointed secretary general Ruhul Amin Hawlader made the announcement at a press briefing at his Banani office in Dhaka this afternoon.

Asked about several presidium members including Raushan Ershad’s remaining absent from today’s meeting, Hawlader said, “They could not attend the meeting as they had scheduled government meetings.”

“There is no division and misunderstanding in the party,” he added. 

Earlier, a meeting of the party’s presidium members was held there around 12:00pm with Ershad in the chair.  

After two-hour-long meeting, Hawlader told the media that the party’s presidium members put he highest importance in taking part in the upcoming Union Parishad polls.

“We have formed a central and district level monitoring cells to oversee the overall electoral atmosphere and performance of the party backed runners,” he said.  

Responding to a query, he said JP is in lighted      

Jatiya Party’s presidium body has sat in a meeting with its Chairman HM Ershad at the chair amidst ominous signs of dissatisfaction in the party.

The meeting began at Ershad’s Banani office in Dhaka around 12:00 noon. Ershad’s wife, Raushan who is the opposition leader of the parliament, was not present at the meeting.

Issues like whether Jatiya Party’s ministers will step down from the cabinet and Ershad’s unilateral decision to appoint his brother as the co-chairman and sacking of his secretary general is expected to be discussed at the meeting.

At a JP meeting in Rangpur on January 17, Ershad suddenly announced appointing his younger brother GM Quader as his second-in-command, the co-chairman, a post non-existent in the party's charter.

Rejecting this, lawmaker Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu and a group of dissidents the next day announced that Ershad's wife Raushan Ershad was the acting chairperson, which too did not exist.

Apparently aggrieved, Ershad on January 19 replaced Bablu with lawmaker Ruhul Amin Hawlader in the secretary general post, creating more division in the main opposition in parliament.

That day, JP parliamentary party at a meeting with Raushan in the chair called upon Ershad to hold the meeting of JP's highest policymaking body to take a final decision on the changes.

Moreover, a Raushan-led group, including Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud and state ministers Mujibul Haque Chunnu and Moshiur Rahman Ranga, called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in parliament last Thursday.

Party insiders told The Daily Star last night that this group is likely to raise questions over the appointments.