Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has urged his colleagues to hand over the party's leadership to the young.
“Hand over power to the younger generation. Our days are gone,” he said at a party programme in Dhaka on Monday.
Jatiya Party MPs stayed away from the programme. In a statement on Sunday, they said they would not attend programmes only after Rawshan Ershad was appointed JP co-chairman.
The squabbling laid bare when Ershad made his younger brother GM Quader party co-chairman.
The former dictator had also sacked secretary general Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu and appointed ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader to the post.
Ershad said: “Discipline is very important in a party. You have seen what happened to those who violated party discipline.”
He claimed there were many failed attempts to destroy the Jatiya Party.
“I know many called my party leaders over phone and asked them not to join today’s joint meeting but their attempts were futile,” he said.
Urging pro-Rawshan leaders, Ershad said, “Come and see how the meeting is going and who are taking part.”
Ershad again defended his decision to nominate his brother as his successor, saying: “I've selected a competent successor, my younger brother. I am old now and probably won't live long.
“He would lead the party and my decision will not change until I am alive.”
