Ershad finally back home with new role

Former military ruler HM Ershad yesterday became a special envoy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and at the same time recovered from his mysterious “illness”, making it a day of double fun for him.
Ershad, who was the centrepiece of a long-drawn drama over his party's flip-flop on joining the otherwise one-sided January 5 polls, was whisked away by government intelligence men from his Baridhara residence on December 12 to keep him behind a veil of smokescreen.
He had been, since then, at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka Cantonment for a publicly unknown “illness” but was enjoying occasional golf breaks. He went straight home from the Bangabhaban ceremony of Sheikh Hasina's new government formation.
As Hasina's special envoy, Ershad will enjoy ministerial status henceforth. It is history now that on his directives, more than 180 of his party's MP aspirants had to withdraw from the polls race.
"I'm quite well. Soon, I'll get released from the CMH," he told reporters soon after attending the oath taking ceremony of the new cabinet at Bangabhaban.
He also said he would certainly join parliament as he had taken part in the election.
Ershad entered his house around 6:45pm from Bangabhaban, said Maj (retd) Khaled Akhter, personal assistant to the JP chief.
Earlier, when he entered the Darbar Hall around 3:15pm, with a smile on his face, most of the audience applauded his arrival.
The JP boss, who had once said he would rather die than contest the January 5 polls, took the oath as a legislator of the 10th parliament on Saturday.
"Ershad is a confusing character who told the party's top leaders that if he violated his promise, the party men should shoot him. But in the end he took part in the polls and has also got a post," a JP presidium member told The Daily Star yesterday, asking not to be named.
A section of JP leaders yesterday criticised Ershad for being an "unpredictable character". They said Ershad's decision to take the oath and charge of special envoy to the prime minister had left them stunned and that they felt ashamed.
The JP lawmakers took the oath without their chief on Thursday under the leadership of senior presidium member Raushan Ershad, who is also Ershad's wife. Raushan was also elected chief of the Jatiya Party Parliamentary Party on the day.
On the night of December 12, the JP boss was allegedly picked up by members of an intelligence agency and taken to the CMH under Rab escort. The Rab officials claimed that Ershad was taken there for treatment.
People close to the JP chairman alleged that though he was physically fit, he was forcibly taken to CMH as he had announced a boycott of the polls. No one except a very few could meet him at the hospital, they added.
Interestingly, Ershad could not make a statement about his physical condition, but he played golf inside the cantonment, said party sources.
When Ershad announced that his party would not contest the polls, pressure mounted on him from the government and also from inside the party.
At this stage, the party apparently got divided over the issue. Ershad's younger brother GM Quader and JP Secretary General Ruhul Amin Howlader led one faction of the party, while another was led by Raushan.
Finally, Raushan took the party to the polls and got 33 seats to become leader of the opposition.
Jatiya Party lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rashid yesterday expressed his party's dissatisfaction over getting only one minister and two state ministers in the cabinet.