Ershad replaces party secretary general Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu with Ruhul Amin Howlader

Amid a naked display of power struggle within the Jatiya Party, HM Ershad has sacked his secretary general Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu and replaced him with Ruhul Amin Howlader.

In a packed media briefing at the party office on Tuesday, he made the announcement a day after Bablu declared Ershad’s wife and Leader of the Opposition Raushon Ershad as the acting chairperson.

The crisis in the party, which sits not only in the opposition bench but also in the government with two ministers, began on Sunday, when Ershad made his brother GM Quader as the co-chairperson and successor during a press meet in Rangpur.

The next day, a section of the party’s MPs and Presidium members including Secretary General Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, who are known to be close to the ruling Awami League, announced Raushon as the acting chairman.

The meeting at Raushon’s residence also dubbed Ershad’s decision as not being ‘in line with the party’s constitution’.

Within an hour, Ershad, who was still in Rangpur, appeared in a press conference and dismissed the announcement as ‘totally illegal’.

Amid the spectre of a possible party split looming large, Ershad cut short his five-day trip to Rangpur and returned to Dhaka on Tuesday.

He told the media at his Banani office that Bablu had been removed for ‘the sake of the party’.

According to the former military dictator, Bablu had failed to organise the party’s council.

“Ruhul Amin Howlader had been the secretary general for 14 years...From today he will serve as secretary general,” announced Ershad.

In the run-up to the 2014 general elections, Ershad, with the then secretary general Howlader on his side, opted to boycott the election, but a Jatiya Party faction led by Raushon opposed the idea.

The party, however, joined the polls and Ershad became an MP. He was soon appointed special envoy to the prime minister.

But after the election, Howlader was removed and replaced by Bablu, who is known to be close to Raushon.