Former military dictator General Hussain Muhammad Ershad’s Jatiya Party is heading towards another split soon as several key figures in the party have turned annoyed at Jatiya Party’s current chairman and Ershad’s younger brother GM Quader. Earlier, the party was divided into two fractions – one led by Quader and another by Ershad’s widow Rowshan Ershad. It may be mentioned here that Rowshan Ershad is inactive from politics for more than two years due to multiple health issues. Following the death of Gen Ershad, she was considered as his sole representative although GM Quader did not accept Rowshan’s leadership. Rowshan Ershad is the Leader of Opposition in the current parliament.
Meanwhile, according to credible sources, a large number of senior leaders of Jatiya Party turned furious at GM Quader as he continued running party affairs almost unilaterally by ignoring the opinion of even presidium members. There are also allegations against the party’s supreme leader of trading with the party’s nomination for the 12th general election which is scheduled to be held on January 7, 2024.
Seeking anonymity, a number of Jatiya Party sources told this correspondent that there have been numerous cases where aspirant candidates had to pay amounts ranging between BDT500,000 to 20,00,000 for getting party’s nomination while aspirants seeking nomination under quota to be allocated by ruling Awami League are asked to pay amounts ranging between BDT20 to 50 million. Such “rampant corruption” centering nomination has aggrieved those who have been dedicatedly working for the party for years.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, even weeks before declaration of election schedule, Jatiya Party chairman GM Quader told diplomats, including US Ambassador Peter Haas as well as local media that his party is no more in the Awami League grand alliance and Jatiya Party would independently file 300 candidates during the 12th general election.
Queder also has repeatedly claimed, a free and fair election under Awami League government was “impossible” and echoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Jatiya Party chairman has also repeatedly demanded holding of the next election under a “caretaker government”.
It may be mentioned here that, Jatiya Party actually is having its vote bank within Rangpur division in Bangladesh, while it’s vote bank in the rest of the part of Bangladesh is extremely insignificant. During the recent past, whenever Jatiya Party contested in any election without blessings from the ruling Awami League, its candidates lost their security deposit.
Sources said, aggrieved leaders of Jatiya Party currently are working on formulating a constitution for floating ‘Trinamool Jatiya Party’ with tractor as its electoral symbol. This new fraction of Jatiya Party would be floated sometime in December.
Seeking anonymity, one of the key figures behind ‘Trinamool Jatiya Party’ told this correspondent, “Our founder Pallibondhu Hussain Muhammad Ershad had always focused on the socio-economic improvement of 68 thousand villages in Bangladesh. Once that dream can be accomplished, Bangladesh shall be known to the entire world as a developed nation. Only focusing on developing a country’s urban areas thus leaving the ignored populace of 68 thousand villages would not actually help in achieving the goal of a developed and prosperous Bangladesh. Following the death of our leader – Pallibondhu Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Jatiya Party has landed into the hands of wrong people, who instead of focusing on nurturing his dreams have been turning the party into a parasite. Current leadership of Jatiya Party is even trying to form an alliance with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), which was always opposed by our leader Hussain Muhammad Ershad. BNP has tried to destroy Jatiya Party on multiple occasions and persecuted Pallibondhu Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Jatiya Party should not join any alliance with BNP and Jamaat. For these particular reasons, we are going to launch Trinamool Jatiya Party”.
