The Jatiya Party (JaPa) of former president Hussain Muhammad Ershad could participate in the upcoming 11th general election on its own, despite a majority of the party’s leaders preferring the status quo as part of the Awami League-led alliance.
JaPa policy makers believe that the party will not change its stance on this alliance, unless the dynamic in the existing coalition changes drastically.
The Bangla Tribune has discussed the matter with four senior leaders of JaPa to learn more details about the party’s plans for the next polls, which are due by early 2019.
The leaders have acknowledged that the party has dual plans for participating in the next parliamentary election, and both of those plans involve collaboration with the Awami League.
If the BNP decides to join the polls, JaPa will re-join the Awami League-led alliance. If the BNP boycotts the election, JaPa will participate in the polls by itself, and will serve the role of the main opposition party, party leaders said.
Senior party leaders pointed out that several JaPa leaders were appointed ministers under the current government, and the party is still a member of the ruling party Awami League-led grand alliance.
Speaking on the matter, party policy makers said JaPa is putting more emphasis on participating in the next polls as part of the Awami League alliance.
They claimed the party formed a new political coalition called the “United National Alliance” in May 2017, but that party chairman HM Ershad had no plans to contest in the polls as part of this coalition.
Speaking to the Bangla Tribune, Jatiya Party General Secretary and also a lawmaker, Ruhul Amin Howlader, said: “Now is not the time to announce whether we will join the polls on our own, or as part of an alliance. However, the benefit of the country and the party will get top priority before we make a decision.”
JaPa Presidium member SM Foysal Chisti provided the Bangla Tribune with a more direct answer: “Politics based on alliances is the current trend in this sub-continent, and it does not show any signs of slowing down. We want the Awami League to give us constituencies that the party truly deserves.”
A number of party policy makers believe that the JaPa’s decision on their mode of participation in the next general polls is directly linked to the decision of the BNP.
If the BNP boycotts the next election as it did the last, JaPa will play a similar role it played in the 2014 polls.
This article was first published on Bangla Tribune