Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad rejected the idea of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leadership of an all-party poll-time interim government.
The JP Chairman said: “We have said it before and are saying again that we will not participate in the election if Sheikh Hasina heads the interim government.” The elections would not be free and fair in that situation, he said.
Ershad made this statement at a press conference organised at the Jatiya Party office in the capital’s Banani, protesting the “misleading” media reports about the meeting between a Jatiya Party delegation and the prime minister with her Awami League representatives on October 20.
The JP Chairman also declared that Jatiya Party would not participate in the polls if the main opposition BNP boycotted it.
Denying Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam’s claim of JP’s participation in the upcoming election under a Hasina-led interim government, Ershad said: “Those claims are rumours.”
Earlier, Ashraful told journalists Jatiya Party had agreed to participate in the upcoming polls as part of the AL-led grand alliance.
Earlier, the 18-party alliance led by opposition BNP declared it would not take part in the elections under any form of government led by Sheikh Hasina.