2014 polls: JP leaders’ participation saved country from constitutional crisis

Mujibul Huq Chunnu, a Jatiya Party lawmaker, said in parliament today that if a segment of JP leaders had not betrayed and revolted with HM Ershad and had not participated in the 2014 election under Raushan Ershad, the nation may have got into an "unconstitutional situation".

A few of them participated in the elections under the leadership of Raushan in 2014 by going against JP's founding chairman Ershad, said Chunnu while speaking on a point of order.

He recalled that the 2014 elections were boycotted by his party at first. Ershad, at the last moment, wrote letters to all the candidates across the country to withdraw their nominations.

"There was such a situation that day... BNP did not join the election. If Jatiya Party had not joined then, an unconstitutional situation would have been created in Bangladesh. A constitutional vacuum would have been created," he said.

Referring to Ershad's election in the Lalmonitorhat-1 seat, the party secretary general said Ershad submitted his nomination papers in some constituencies, including Lalmonirhat, and Rangpur during the 2014 election.

"He did not want to contest in Rangpur. We only for legacy contested in the election," he added.

Pointing to Awami League MP Motahar Hossain of Lalmonirhat-1, Chunnu said, "In 2014, if we had not come to the election under the leadership of Begum Ershad, then he [Motahar] could not have become MP or state minister."

Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury yesterday expunged Motahar's speech against JP founder Ershad.