The Jatiya Party was formed on January 1, 1986 with General Hussain Muhammad Ershad serving as its chairman.
Once a significant player in Bangladesh's political scene, the party has witnessed a decline in popularity following its founder's demise, primarily due to disputes among the top-ranked leaders.
Amid growing resentment among the party rank and file over its poor show in the January 7 election, JaPa Chief Patron Raushan Ershad took decisive action on Sunday: she declared herself the chairman of the party, relieving the current party chief and Gen Ershad’s younger brother, GM Quader, and Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu of their roles.
She also appointed Presidium Member Kazi Mamunur Rashid as the secretary general of the party.
Meanwhile, Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on Sunday recognized GM Quader, a lawmaker representing Rangpur-3, as the leader of the opposition in parliament, and party’s Co-Chairman Anisul Islam Mahmud (Chittagong-5) as the deputy leader.
The leadership dynamics within the party have been tumultuous for a long time.
In January 2016, Ershad announced the appointment of his brother, GM Quader, as co-chairman of the party, only to make his wife, Raushan, senior co-chairman just months later, in April, due to dissatisfaction among certain leadership factions with Quader’s post.
Following Ershad's death in 2019, GM Quader assumed leadership, sparking a serious dispute with Raushan.
Discontentment within the party had already reached an extreme point before this year's election. JaPa announced candidates for 287 constituencies in late November, but 220 of them later withdrew.
Despite a seat-sharing agreement where the Awami League conceded 26 seats, the JaPa could only secure 11.
JaPa leaders and activists across the country held protests identifying the incompetence of the central leaders as the reason for the party’s lack of success in the election, issuing an ultimatum demanding their resignation.
Afterwards, two presidium members of the party, Kazi Firoz Rashid and Sunil Shuvo Roy, were expelled by the committee of Chairman GM Quader.
Several other central leaders were expelled and the party’s Dhaka North unit was abolished. Then, on January 25, those expelled by GM Quader and Chunnu’s committee resigned en masse.
At a press conference at the National Press Club, 668 leaders and activists under eight thanas of Dhaka North signed their resignation under the leadership of the expelled leaders, announcing that they would reorganize the party under Raushan’s leadership.
JaPa contested the 2024 election under the leadership of GM Quader as chairman for the first time in the absence of founder HM Ershad.
Previously, in 2008, JaPa won 27 seats as a partner of the Awami League-led grand alliance.
Then in 2014, although Ershad initially did not want to participate in the January 5 election, his party stayed with the Awami League in the end.
The party won 29 seats in 2014 and 22 in 2018 in seat-sharing deals with the ruling Awami League. JaPa was the opposition in parliament both times and Raushan was the leader of the opposition.
However, discontent among many party leaders with these agreements was evident even back then.
