JP to join polls if all parties participate: Ershad

HM Ershad

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad again said today if all political parties participate in the polls, his party will join the race.

"I am firm and steady on my decision. It will not change," the former dictator told reporters at his Baridhara residence this evening.

He mentioned a few ministers from the JP yesterday met with the prime minister and requested her to extend the nomination submission deadline by 10 days and ensure participation of all parties in the polls.

Jatiya Party will go to the polls if the conditions are agreed. "I and Jatiya Party will not participate in the election if all parties do no join it."

Claiming there is no disharmony in his party, the JP chief said Anisul Islam Mahmud, water resources minister, and Ziauddin Bablu, an adviser to the prime minister, will hand their resignation letters to Ershad.

Earlier yesterday, four Jatiya Party leaders handed over their letters of resignation as polls-time cabinet members to Ershad for “submission to the president”.

They are quitting the cabinet in line with Ershad’s decision that the JP will neither take part in the January 5 general election nor remain part of the polls-time government.

President Abdul Hamid is scheduled to come home from Singapore tonight.

In a dramatic move on Tuesday, Ershad announced his party would not take part in the January 5 polls as the “atmosphere for an inclusive election is absent”.

The next day, he asked the JP leaders to resign from the polls-time cabinet and the party’s parliamentary candidates to withdraw nomination papers.