Jatiya Party lawmaker-elect Kazi Firoz Rashid yesterday said the JaPa would join the 10th parliament as the main opposition under the leadership of senior presidium member Rawshan Ershad.
However, many senior leaders of the party, headed by HM Ershad, said they were yet to be informed about the matter. The grass roots leaders and activists of the party also appeared to be confused.
“The Jatiya Party will join the 10th national parliament as the main opposition led by Rawshan Ershad,” Firoz, also a presidium member of the party, told journalists after meeting with the leadership at her Gulshan residence.
The JaPa won a total of 33 seats in Sunday’s elections, making it the second largest party of the 10th parliament after Awami League, which secured 232 seats.
Rawshan was expected to hold a press conference in a day or two to announce the party’s stand. JaPa Secretary General ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader told the Dhaka Tribune: “The party is yet to take any decision on the issue, and the decision that comes from the party Chairman HM Ershad will be considered final.”
Mujibul Hoque Chunnu, another presidium member, said: “The party has not yet held any formal meeting till now about joining the parliament. The decision will come in a formal party meeting that will be held as soon as the lawmakers-elect from outside Dhaka would arrive at the capital.”
“We do not know what decision will come from the party presidium members,” said Mobarak Hossain Azad, secretary general of the Jatiya Shechhashebok Party, a JaPa affiliate.
"They are also silent about Ershad’s detention issue. They are busy with their power politics,” added Azad.
Meanwhile, Bobby Hajjaj, special adviser to the party chief, told the Dhaka Tribune over phone: “The party is still abiding by Ershad’s decision to not participate in the government.”
But in Lalmonirhat 1, Ershad was defeated by AL candidate and Motahar Hossain by more than one lakh vote. He has never before been defeated in any polls. Even when he was in jail he won in all five of his seats in the 1991.
Ershad declared he would boycott the polls but his withdrawal of application was rejected. He bagged only 5,381 votes and became third.
When the Dhaka Tribune tried to contact JaPa presidium member GM Quader over mobile phone, his personal assistance answered, “Sir” would not comment on the issue without consulting his brother, Ershad, who was now admitted to the Combined Military Hospital in the capital.