Ershad to fly to Singapore leaving JP under Howlader

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad is flying to Singapore for treatment amid rumours about his health ahead of the Dec 30 election.

Ershad will catch a flight to Singapore at 10:45pm on Monday said Jatiya Party General Secretary Mashiur Rahman Ranga. Jatiya Party Presidium Member Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu will accompany him.

Ershad has given the responsibility of ‘overall organisational duties of the chairman’ to former General Secretary ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader during his absence, though the new General Secretary Mashiur Rahman Ranga has the final say on the nomination of Jatiya Party candidates.

Ranga has not responded to questions of whether Howlader is in charge of the party in Ershad’s absence.

Ershad has been going to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka over the past few weeks because of ‘low haemoglobin count’. But the ruling party and the Jatiya Party have been providing the media with inconsistent information about his illness.

Ershad had announced that he would not run in the 2014 election over a ‘dramatic illness’ and got admitted to the CMH. But he was elected during his stay in the hospital and was later appointed as the prime minister’s special envoy.

A fresh discussion began about the ‘illness’ of the Jatiya Party chairman when it was learned that he was admitted to CMH during the nomination process for the 11th national election.

Ershad is ‘genuinely sick’ and the situation is not a ‘political stunt,’ Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader told reporters at the end of the last month. He will be taken to Singapore soon, he had said.

But the then Jatiya Party secretary general, ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, gave a different picture. Ershad’s sickness is ‘not that serious,’ he said, adding that Ershad will contest the election.

Since then a number of Jatiya Party leaders have accused Ershad and Howlader of charging them exorbitant sums for nominations, which Howlader denied.

There was a sudden change in the Jatiya Party after Howlader’s nomination for Patuakhali-1 seat was rejected. The secretary general, a close confidante of party chief Ershad, was replaced with Mashiur Rahman Ranga, known as a ‘close aide’ to the government.

Ershad feels ‘vulnerable’ due to a low haemoglobin count in his blood, new secretary general Ranga told the journalists. He has had to visit the hospital frequently, he added.

“He goes to CMH if he suffers from disturbances in his sleep. He feels scared being alone in the house. Also, there is always a risk of infection.”

Ershad should travel abroad for his treatment despite being ‘a hundred percent fit,’ the new secretary general claimed. But he does not want to travel abroad without fulfilling his duty as the Jatiya Party chairman. He may travel abroad after Dec 10, following the finalisation of seat sharing by the Grand Alliance, he had suggested.

On Dec 6, the Jatiya Party chairman suddenly came to his political office in Banani and spoke for a few minutes with leaders and activists from the party and claimed that he has been barred from getting medical treatment and also from travelling abroad.

Ershad is ‘as fit’ as you can be ‘at the age of 88,’ his brother and the party’s Co-Chairman GM Quader said. There is no ‘mystery’ about it, he said.

“If the physicians say there is ample scope for his treatment in the country, then why would we take him abroad? But if the feels the medical treatment at home is not enough for him, and he should travel to Singapore, he will be taken. We’re not worried about it.”

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