JP to contest next polls independently: Ershad [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

JP to contest next polls independently: Ershad

Local January 02, 2017

Jatiya Party chairman Hussein Muhammad Ershad on Sunday said that the next general election would be the last one in his life and that his party would contest the poll independently.
‘May be you (party men) are still in confusion about how we will take part in the next general elections…We will contest the election alone,’ he told a rally of the party in the capital’s historic Suhrawardy Udyan.
Ershad, also special envoy to prime minister Sheikh Hasina, said if he was voted to power again, he would stop the ongoing repression on the religious minorities and introduce ‘quota’ for them in parliament.
The rally was organised to mark the party’s 31st founding anniversary, which experienced significant turnout of the party activists coming from different parts of the country.
‘Members of all communities including Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian participated in the war of liberation but why are they now being repressed and why are their houses being looted?’ the JP chairman asked.
The former military ruler said that his party suffered losses by taking part in the national polls under alliance and it had done well when it took part in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th parliamentary elections independently.
He called on the party activists to strengthen the party at the grassroots and prepare for the next polls saying that his party would not want to suffer any further loss by joining polls under any alliance.
Ershad said without gaining strength and having support of people it would not be possible for a party to go to the state power.
‘It is my last wish… I want to go to the state power again to serve the nation truly,’ the former president added, urging the party activists to keep him alive and give him a new life by taking him to power.
Ershad committed to introduce provincial government system in the country, make upazila parishad functional and create employment opportunity for the unemployed youths to accelerate the country’s development if he was voted to power again.
He said that young generation had been given wrong information about him over the years and around 70 per cent of the youths were not aware either of his party or the development activities he accomplished during his nine-year rule.
Jatiya Party senior co-chairman Raushan Ershad, also opposition leader in parliament, said that their party would no more be used as a ladder for going to state power by other political parties.
She said that their party would rather forge a national unity with the old and new political parties, especially the parties established by the former Jatiya Party leaders.
Raushan called on the former Jatiya Party leaders who formed separate parties to join hands with them to strengthen the party and take it to the state power.
During her speech, party activists started chanting slogans demanding withdrawal of the cases filed against their leader Esrshad.
Raushan told the agitated party activists that she had already held talks with prime minister Sheikh Hasina about withdrawal of the cases filed against the party chairman.
She said that she was working on the issue and the cases filed against the party leader must be withdrawn.
Jatiya Party co-chairman GM Quader, secretary general Ruhul Amin Hawlader and other senior leaders of the party addressed the rally that began at 10:00am.
Earlier, Ershad was escorted to the rally venue from the gate of Suhrawardy Udyan by 12 decorated elephants hired from Sylhet and Chittagong and 31 horses hired from old town of Dhaka.
Office-goers faced difficulties as processions of Jatiya Party leaders and activists created huge traffic congestions on the roads leading to Suhrawardy Udyan.
Commuters were seen getting down from buses at different roads and walking to their destinations.