Ershad announces ‘greater' alliance

Jatiya Party chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad on Sunday announced a new ‘greater political coalition’ ahead of the next general elections to be held anytime between October 2018 and January 2019.
Newly formed United National Alliance includes two political parties registered with the Bangladesh Election Commission — Jatiya Party and Bangladesh Islami Front — along with two political alliances — Jatiya Islami Mahajote and Bangladesh National Alliance, said HM Ershad at a press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka marking the launch of the coalition. 
The alliance, in short UNA, led by Jatiya Party would accept the polls result and the alliance would run its activities whatever the result would be in the elections, said Ershad, also the special envoy to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
Ershad, also a former military dictator, said that the partners of the new alliance were involved in politics of fair, disciplined and just political practice for continuing democracy and constitution in the country. 
‘There is no alternative to forming a greater alliance right now as it is the demand of time — for the sake of the country, nation and the constitution,’ the JP chair claimed prior to announcing the rules and declaration of the new alliance.
He said that all the alliance partners believed in the spirit of Liberation War, Islamic values and Bangladeshi nationalism. ‘There would be no room for anti-liberation force in the alliance.’ 
As the Jatiya Islami Mahajote has 34 parties and Bangladesh National Alliance has 22 parties, said the parties’ insiders, adding that the UNA was, in fact, an alliance of 58 parties.
This is the largest alliance in terms of number of political parties. Ruling AL-led alliance has 14 parties and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance has 20 parties, said the alliances’ insiders.
Ershad said that he himself would be the chairman of UNA and JP secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader would carry out his duty as the alliance’s chief spokesperson.
The chiefs of the two parties and the two alliances would be the top leaders of the alliance, he said.
He said that the number of the alliance partners might be increased and that they had had several meetings with two other registered political parties about joining the ‘greater alliance.’
He said that the alliance would announce joint election manifesto but the coalition partners could announce their own political manifesto without conflicting with the coalition’s ideology.
Responding to newsmen, he made it confirmed that JP had quit the AL-led coalition few years back and the party was playing it role as the opposition party at the present parliament. 
JP co-chairman GM Quader and its secretary general Ruhul Amin Howlader, Bangladesh Islami Front chairman MA Mannan, Jatiya Islami Mahajote chairman Abu Naser Wahed Faruk, and Bangladesh National Alliance chairman Sekander Ali Moni, among others, were present.

 

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