Another split of Jatiya Party (JP) as it appears, has become imminent as only four out of 34 members of parliament (MP) of the party attended the view exchange meeting of party chairman HM Ershad at Emanuel Centre in city’s Gulshan area on Wednesday. All the JP MPs were invited at the function.
Party chairman HM Ershad said at a view exchange meeting of district level leaders and activists on the day that the party was in crisis.
He was visibly annoyed over the absence of party MPs at his function. Referring to the January 5 controversial elections he said, ” I don’t want to discuss anything about the election today. What the chairman says should be treated as right. Those who have joined the one-sided election should be identified,” he said. Ershad said those who have ignored his directive , were not required in the party. Referring to the absence of the 30 MPs who did not turn up to his view exchange function, he said whether they were outside the party discipline . He said the conspiracy to split the party has to be resisted. He said he was making a final call to them to return to him or face departure from politics. There were slogans demanding expulsion of the betrayers when the function was in progress.Ershad said that he wanted to give another chance to those who joined the election defying his directives. He said he would take the responsibility of those who had withdrawn their nomination papers responding to his instruction. He asked the district level leaders to extend support to the party candidates in the forthcoming Upazila polls. He said that he would start organizational tour from February 20.
It was for the first time that Ershad made public appearance before the media and also before his party leaders and activists since he was taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on December 12.
The function was also addressed by party secretary general Ruhul Amin Hawlader, MP. Ruhul Amin Hawlader speaking at the function said those who have betrayed with Ershad would cease to exist in politics. He also urged Ershad not to forgive the betrayers of the party. A total of about 200 JP men had withdrawn their nomination papers in response to his directives. But a a group of JP leaders under Begum Raushan Ershad joined the one sided elections on January 5. The absence of 30 MPs on Wednesday’s programme is seen as a demonstration of the sharp division between Ershad and Begum Ershad.
It should be recalled that JP suffered a split centering participation in the January 5 elections. Presidium member former Prime minister Kazi Zafar Ahmed floated JP with him as its chief. Earlier, the party suffered two splits- one was headed by Anwar Hossain Manju while another by Naziur Rahman Manju. The faction headedby Naziur Rahman Manju is known as BJP which is now headed by Andalib Rahman Partha.
