Howlader won’t leave me: Ershad

Chairman HM Ershad claims ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader whom he sacked as Jatiya Party’s secretary general has “gracefully accepted” the decision.

“Ruhul calls me father. He is like my son. He’ll never leave me,” Ershad said at a party meet on Sunday.

The party chief said Howlader had promised to be with the Jatiya Party for life when the two met separately before the meeting began.

“He will be with me. We’re one and undivided.”

Ershad on Thursday replaced Howlader with Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu as secretary general without prior notice.

A day later he said: “A new face is needed to organise the party and that’s why the appointment has been made.”

File Photo

Ershad had appointed Hawlader secretary general in 2001 after Anwar Hossain Manju formed a breakaway faction.

Ershad said: “Hawlader’s contribution to the Jatiya Party cannot be forgotten. He was at the helm as its secretary general for 14 years.”

New Secretary General Bablu thanked Ershad for his appointment and sought Hawlader’s support in his new job.

He said he was thankful to his party chief for his giving him the “great responsibility in this transition period of the country”.

“Hawlader is my friend. We’ve done politics together. I expect he will support me,” Bablu added.

Bablu said he had first met Ershad, then former military strongman, when he was a student and a Left activist.

“I was attracted by his behaviour. He was like my father, and I hold him in that esteem even now.”