Jatiya Party leader Kazi Ahmed Zafar has summoned a meeting of the party’s central council. Ahmed proclaimed himself the chairman of the
party soon after his parting with Hussein Muhammad Ershad over joining the Awami-league-led polls-time government.
The Council will be held on Dec 20. Around 30 presidium members were with him, he told reporters at his residence in capital Dhaka’s
Gulshan.
Asked whether he would forge an alliance with Ershad again, the one-time Prime Minister in Ershad’s government said, “Talks can be
held on uniting with him. But there is little chance of that happening.”
A rift developed between Ershad and Ahmed once Ershad joined the election-time interim government after quitting the Awami League-led
Grand Alliance.
Earshad on Nov 28 announced Ahmed’s expulsion following Ahmed’s public criticism of his decision . In a counter move, Ahmed said a party
council meeting had removed Ershad.
Ershad, within days, announced his boycott of the Jan 5 parliamentary election, directing his party leaders to quit Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina’s poll-time interim government.
A process of new polarisation began within the Jatiya Party, as Ershad was taken to the Combined Military Hospital under RAB escort on Dec 12.
Ahmed said the Jatiya Party was now split into two factions, one siding with Ershad and another with his wife Raushan Ershad.
He said he had no clue to the cause of the conflict because of “a smokescreen over this”. But he hoped the two leaders would maintain
this position in the future, though adding “there is nothing impossible for Ershad”.
He feared that undemocratic force might take over amid the prevailing political chaos. “The situation has gone out of the government’s
control. Various rumours are being heard.”
He called on the President to find a solution to the preset crisis by holding talks with all the parties and asking Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina to resign and the Election Commission to revise the election schedule. -bdnews24.com
