HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party (JaPa), also the main opposition in parliament, on Thursday brought a dramatic change to its post of secretary general because of intervention from Leader of the Opposition in parliament Rawshan Ershad.
Party insiders said the matter of bringing a change to the top post had been discussed within the party for months. Eventually, following special recommendation from Rawshan Ershad, Bablu was made the new secretary general.
Ershad, however, yesterday said the replacement in the party’s secretary general post had been made in a bid to curb confusions among party members.
Party sources said there had been conflicts between Rawshan and senior presidium member ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader centring the January 5 parliamentary election.
Ruhul, who is known for being close to HM Ershad, belonged to a faction of the JaPa that did not want to take part in the national poll. Ershad’s wife Rawshan, on the other hand, eventually contested the poll as part of the ruling Awami League-led alliance.
There had been rumours about the replacement of the party secretary general for the last two months but the date was not fixed but Rawshan was in a hurry to do that. Rawshan, however, refused to make any comment on the issue.
Ershad said: “Many people, both from inside and outside the party, think that there had been a long-standing dispute between me and Rawshan. I have made the decision of appointing Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu as the secretary general of the party removing ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader to curb confusion.”
The JaPa chief made the statement while talking to journalists at his President Park residence in the capital yesterday afternoon, a day after he appointed Bablu as his party’s new spokesperson.
The former president said: “Ruhul Amin Howlader has served the party as the secretary general for the last 14 years. Now he is tired and needs rest.
“I think the present government will stay till 2019. We need new leadership to boost the party. That’s why I have made Bablu the secretary general of the party,” he added.
Prime Minister’s adviser Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu was made the secretary general of the main opposition on Thursday evening.
Ershad also focused on the recent decision of the Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate “illegally amassed” wealth of Howlader. “We removed him before the controversy surfaced following the ACC investigation.”
Meanwhile, the newly appointed secretary general of the JaPa, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu said he was made the secretary general on the order of the party Chairman Ershad not by anyone’s pressure.
He said this to the newsmen during an unofficial press conference at his Gulshan residence yesterday.
“I will not only organise the party from local level I will also take the party close to power,” he said confidently.
Bablu, the legislator from Chittagong-9 (Kotwali) constituency, was also made adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the election-time government before the January 5 polls.
Howlader reportedly represents the faction within the party which is more prone to the BNP. However, the Patuakhali-1 lawmaker has been placed in the presidium.