Jatiya Party presidium member and Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud said party chief HM Ershad himself appointed him as the acting chairman of Jatiya Party (JaPa) after the 1/11 political changeover.
The JaPa leader made the statement following Ershad’s comment that Anisul was also a mastermind of the 1/11 changeover.
“Ershad himself appointed me as the party’s acting chairman at that time. The appointment was not to remove him from politics,” Anisul said in a press briefing at his ministry yesterday.
“The 1/11 changeover aimed at implementing the ‘minus-three’ formula. But Ershad was not ready for prison. Trusting me, he selected me to take the charge of the party then,” Anisul added.
Speaking at a programme in Sherpur on February 28, Ershad said: “The name of another person should be added with those of the Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam and others that surfaced for illegally bringing Fakhruddin-Moyeenuddin to power, and he is my party presidium member and minister Anisul Islam Mahmud.”
Ershad also said Anisul had illegally become the party’s acting chairman removing him during the 1/11 changeover. In response to a query on the rumour that Jatiya Party would be divided and a faction would be formed and led by Anisul, the JaPa leader said: “There is no possibility of such partition in the party.”
He claimed that Ershad’s brother GM Quader was causing all the trouble within the party.
