Ershad flies to Singapore for treatment before vote

Amid swirling speculations over his illness before the election, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has jetted off to Singapore for 'advanced medical treatment'.

The former military ruler left Dhaka on a Singapore Airlines flight at 10:45pm on Monday, his Deputy Press Secretary Khandaker Delwar Jalali told bdnews24.com.

Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, a member of the party’s presidium, is accompanying the 88-year-old. Ershad is contesting for two seats in the parliamentary election, but Bablu is not a candidate this time.

Newly appointed Secretary General Mashiur 0Rahman Ranga was at the Shahjalal International Airport to see off Ershad.

In the announcement of his departure, Ershad had given the responsibility of ‘overall organisational duties of the chairman’ to ousted secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader.

Ranga has not responded to questions about 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 Awami League 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 wave of 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 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, Howlader, gave a different account. Ershad’s sickness is ‘not that serious,’ he had said, adding that Ershad will run for parliament.

Since then a number of Jatiya Party leaders have accused Ershad and Howlader of charging them exorbitant sums of money for nominations, which Howlader had 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 the party chief, was replaced with Ranga, known as a ‘close aide’ to the government.

Ershad feels ‘vulnerable’ due to a low haemoglobin count in his blood, Ranga told journalists. He needs to frequent the hospital, he added.

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

Ershad should travel abroad for treatment despite being ‘hundred percent fit,’ the new secretary general claimed. But he did not want to travel abroad without fulfilling his duty as the Jatiya Party chairman. He might travel abroad after Dec 10, once the share of seats among the Grand Alliance parties was agreed, 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. There he claimed that he had 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 remarked.

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

Meanwhile, unhappy about 29 seats allocated by the ruling alliance, the Jatiya Party announced around 150 candidates who are contesting alongside the Awami League nominees.

The move, which has potentially jeopardised the chances of the Grand Alliance candidates, has created anger among the grass-root figures of the Awami League.