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JP under GM Quader in a shambles


Published : 04 Oct 2022 10:16 PM

Jatiya Party of the late president Ershad is facing a serious crisis with GM Quader as its chief. Quite a number of groups and sub-groups are active on different agenda.

In absence of General Ershad, Begum Raushan Ershad was supposed to lead the party in parliament, but for greed for power and position GM Quader went into conflict with Raushan Ershad .As a result, she could not run the party as its chief.

Initially Raushan Ershad was elected opposition leader in parliament, but GM Quader, once an ordinary staff in a government office, coveted to be the leader of the opposition in Parliament. This raised the brows of several top leaders of the Jatiya party and they questioned how a man with having a background of an ordinary staff of an office can lead a party, which ran the government for about ten years under president Ershad.

One of the prominent leaders and a former minister Moshiur Rahman Ranga, MP said, “GM Quader is not competent enough to run the party as he was a mere clerk in an office.”

Moshiur Rahman Ranga said GM Quader was four times expelled from the party by the late president Hussain Mohammad Ershad. He is so corrupt that despite being a brother, Ershad didn’t excuse him, he further said.

“G M Quader didn’t disclose anything about his earning and there are questions raised by so many people in the party that he and his family maintain four luxury vehicles. Where does the money come from,” he asked.

Because of G M Quader, the seniormost leaders who have national reputation and high educational background don’t feel comfort with G M Quader as he has no educational qualifications of that mark, said Ranga.

Majority of the supporters of Raushan Ershad are against G M Quader and Mr. Anisul Islam Mahmud, a former foreign minister, who is also nationally and internationally of high repute, and other experienced leaders should not feel comfort with a half- educated man like G M Quader, he added.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was kind enough and she made G M Quader a minister, but he could not maintain reciprocation, and he was virtually ousted from the cabinet, he added. 

“Our late president had immensely enhanced the prestige of the country by his sagacity and political maturity, but when the foreign diplomats would talk to G M Quader, it would result in nothing for the country because of his lack of leadership quality and ordinary educational level”, Ranga added.

Bangladesh is on a development super highway under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but Quader is now playing a fishy game which the leaders and supporters of Jatiya Party don’t like at all, he further said.    

Jatiya Party, the official opposition in Parliament, is in a serious crisis due to continuous conflict over party leadership.

The situation is worsening as party's chairman GM Quader, who is also the younger brother of JP’s founder, late President HM Ershad, and party’s chief patron Raushan Ershad, also the wife of late Ershad, remain busy taking steps against each other.

In the circumstances, the party has further been divided into two parts. 

In yet another dramatic development, Opposition Chief Whip Mashiur Rahman Ranga has sought to withdraw the letter the JP Parliamentary Party sent to the Speaker for removal of Raushan Ershad as the leader of the opposition.

Ranga, who has recently been relieved of all Jatiya Party posts for "breaching the party discipline," on Tuesday, submitted a letter to National Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury at her Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban office in this regard.

He told journalists that he had informed the Speaker that he would like to withdraw the letter of JP Parliamentary Party because the way it was sent was not right.

Raushan's Political Secretary Golam Moshi was with Ranga when he met the Speaker.

Asked, Ranga said, "The Speaker told me she will decide after considering the legal aspects and going through the party's charter."

In the letter, Ranga said he convened a JP Parliamentary Party meeting on September 1 on instructions of Chairman GM Quader. Removing the opposition leader was not on the agenda of the meeting.

"At the beginning of the meeting, he [Quader] spoke about contemporary political issues and asked all to sign a paper. Once the signatures were taken, he said Raushan's condition was not good," reads the letter.

Ranga said, "At the meeting, Quader also asked the Jatiya Party secretary general to write a letter for the removal of Raushan and submit it to the Speaker after taking his signature on it.”

I told Quader that the process was not appropriate as nothing such [removal of the opposition leader] was mentioned in the meeting agenda.

Ranga added that as far as he knew, 70 percent of the lawmakers did not agree to bring change in the post of the opposition leader.

The fresh conflict between Quader and JP Chief Patron Raushan, wife of former president and JP founder HM Ershad, started brewing when she suddenly on August 31 convened the party's 10th council for November 26.

Sources at the JP said that pro-Raushan group has planned to oust Quader from the party helm in the council and take its control.

A day after, JP Parliamentary Party on September 1 at a meeting decided to remove Raushan from the post of the opposition leader.

After the meeting, a letter signed by Ranga, lawmaker from Rangpur-1, was submitted to the Speaker, urging her to make Quader the opposition leader.

At present, Quader is the deputy leader of the opposition.

On September 14, Quader removed JP Presidium Member Ranga, who is known to be loyal to Raushan, from all party posts as he talked against the decision to remove her as the opposition leader.

Recently, Quader is sharply criticizing the incumbent government.

Aggrieved by his criticism, the ruling Awami League high-ups are allegedly backing the pro-Raushan group to put pressure on Quader, sources said.

Feud between Raushan and Quader started over taking the party helm when Ershad fell sick in early 2019. The conflict reached its peak after the demise of Ershad in July 2019.

Raushan, who is being treated at a Bangkok hospital, is likely to return home by the end of this month, Golam Moshi, her political secretary, told this newspaper.

In the latest development, being the chief patron of the party, Raushan Ershad in a letter on Wednesday asked GM Quader to cancel all the expulsions of all the leaders of the party.

She also asked GM Quader to include the expelled leaders in the party again.