JP ministers will resign soon: Ershad

Three Jatiya Party ministers will resign from the cabinet soon, the party’s Chairman HM Ershad said today.

"There are three Jatiya Party members in the cabinet. I am also holding ministerial portfolio. Our resignation from the cabinet is a matter of time," Ershad said in Rangpur.

Ershad, also a special envoy of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said he has discussed the matter with his party's policymakers and decided to resign from the cabinet to appear as the real opposition party ahead of the upcoming general election.

On February 27, Raushan Ershad, senior co-chairman of the JP also leader of the opposition in the parliament, urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to drop three JP lawmakers from the cabinet upholding the party's image as real opposition one in the country.

Ershad said his party has been facing criticism from different quarters soon after joining the cabinet of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance government.

Ershad, a former autocratic military ruler, however said that the joining in the cabinet was his party's political strategy.     

He said his party will hold a public rally in Dhaka on March 24 as part of its political showdown ahead of the next general election.

About possibility of forming political alliance with BNP, the JP chief denied and expressed doubts whether BNP will take part in the upcoming general election.