Backing off will mean death for me: Ershad

Jatiya Party Chairman Hussein Muhammad Ershad says he will not budge from his decision to boycott the Jan 5 election in a blow to the hopes of ruling party leaders .

He told reporters on Thursday night that he received the resignation letters of all of his party ministers in the 'all-party' interim cabinet, a day after he told them to resign.

“I have the resignation letters from all of them. I’ll forward them to President Md Abdul Hamid when I expect to meet him on Saturday,” he said around 10pm at his Baridhara residence in Dhaka.

The former dictator on Tuesday declared his party will stay away from the polls.

He made the startling revelation a day after candidates of his party filed nominations for most of the 300 parliamentary seats as the BNP and its allies in the Opposition preferred to sit out the balloting.

Ershad on Wednesday directed the six Jatiya Party ministers in the interim Cabinet and an advisor to the Prime Minister to quit their posts.

After that directive, RAB and police presence was beefed up in front of his Baridhara residence, prompting party leaders and activists to gather there.

Two Jatiya Party ministers – Raushan Ershad and ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader - and State Minister for Youth and Sports Mojibul Haque Chunnu met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday after Ershad’s call for resignation.

But they did not submit their resignation letters to Hasina.

The other ministers from the party are Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammed Quader, Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Salma Islam and Prime Minister's Advisor Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu.

After meeting Hasina, Howlader, Chunnu and Salma had handed in their resignation letters to Ershad.

Howlader later told reporters that other ministers were on way to submit their resignations too.

Anisul Islam Mahmud had met the Jatiya Party chief at his house Thursday night. Ershad briefed the press after Mahmud left.

Asked why the resignation letters would be handed over to the President instead of the Prime Minister, former President Ershad said, “My wife [Raushan Ershad] says they were sworn in to office by the President. That’s why they will resign through the President.”

The Awami League leaders had said Jatiya Party was with them. But Ershad’s decision to not contest the polls has put the ruling party in a tight spot.

They are still hoping that Ershad, who is known for changing his decision too often, will join the elections in the end though they termed his latest move 'suicidal'.

Asked whether there will be a change of heart, the former military strongman said, “I have made the decision. If I retract now, there will be nothing but death for me.”

He had been previously saying that his party would run for Parliament with the BNP. But then he led his party to file nominations within the deadline.

Again, he backed off and announced the boycott, which the Awami League has declared would be held in time with Hasina at the helm.

Jatiya Party Presidium members Anisul Islam Mahmud and Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu had met Hasina at Ganabhaban on Tuesday night, hours after Ershad had retreated from the decision.

Party activists had shouted slogans against Mahmud when he went to meet Ershad at his residence on Thursday night.

The incident was ‘hurting’, said Ershad. “This behaviour [of the supporters] has hurt me. I do gentlemen’s politics, not uncivilised politics.”

“Everyone in my party supports Jatiya Party. No-one is an agent of any other party,” he said backing Mahmud.

The Jatiya Party chief expressed frustration over the attempt to detain Nurul Islam Babul, Jamuna Group owner and husband of state minister Salma Islam, in front of his house.

“The government is thinking that I’m a child. I do politics with brains of others. The tried to detain Babul thinking he was giving me ideas. He can come and visit me.”

Jatiya Party supporters stopped RAB personnel when they tried to take Babul away from President Park. Later, Ruhul Amin Howlader took him back in.

RAB officials deployed there, however, denied making any attempts to detain Babul.