Jatiya Party
JP to join JS session upon speaker’s assurance
Jatiya Party’s parliament members have decided to join the parliamentary session on Monday, a day after they announced to stay away from parliament till the speaker recognises GM Quader as the leader of the opposition instead of Raushan Ershad.
JP Chairman GM Quader directed all the MPs of the party to join the 20th session of parliament on Monday upon assurance from Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, said Khandakar Delwar Jalali, JP press secretary.
Earlier on Sunday, Jatiya Party announced they will stay away from Parliament after a discussion with the speaker where she offered no hint of a positive decision in this regard coming soon.
Currently, Raushan Ershad is the opposition leader who has been abroad for a long time for medical treatment with GM Quader as her deputy.
Read: Jatiya Party removes Ranga as opposition chief whip
Earlier on September 3, the JP parliamentary party proposed to make GM Quader the opposition leader of the parliament instead of Raushan but the speaker is yet to take a decision in this regard.
The 20th session of the current parliament that began Sunday will continue till November 6.
Country heading for bankruptcy: GM Quader
Taking a swipe at the government for frequent power outages across the country, Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Tuesday feared that the country was heading towards bankruptcy.
“The people of the country are facing unbearable load-shedding for 4 to 10 hours. There’re preparations to produce 20,000 MW of electricity, but the government is not capable of buying fuel for lack of money,” he said.
Although the price of gas has fallen in the world market, the Jatiya Party chief said the government is also unable to procure gas as the exchequer does not have money.
He said Sri Lanka was facing load-shedding, a sharp rise in dollar price, a shortage of money to buy fuel and unusual price hikes of daily essentials before going into bankruptcy. “Exactly the same picture is now here in Bangladesh.”
He came up with the remarks at a programme at the Jatiya Party Chairman’s Banani office.
At the programme, Executive Secretary of Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) Mirza Shahadat Hossain and BHRC General Secretary (International Special Representative) Golam Kibria Mollah joined Jatiya Party by presenting a bouquet to GM Quader.
GM Quader voiced concern that production of all goods is decreasing since it is not possible to keep industrial factories functioning for the lack of electricity.
As a result, he said many people have lost their jobs and become unemployed while the prices of essential commodities have increased several times.
Amid such a situation, the Jatiya Party chief said crores of takas are being allocated for mega projects like Sri Lanka and thousands of crores of taka are being laundered abroad,” he observed.
“The government had earlier said the power situation will be normal from September. They’re now saying it will be normal in November. No one knows when the electricity system will be back to normal. So, the country’s people can’t trust the words of the government,” he observed.
Read: JaPa won't be slave to any party: GM Quader
GM Quader also said people are going through limitless suffering in the current economic reality of the country. “Though the government pledged to prove jobs in all houses, it has now created unemployment in every house. The government also announced to give per kg rice at Tk10, but now the rice is 70 taka per kg. People want to get free from such a miserable situation.”
He said the by-polls to the Gaibandha-5 set will be held on Wednesday, but the leaders and activists of his party there are not able to stay at home due to attacks and false cases.
“Supporters of the government are committing various types of criminal activities, but they’re filing cases on false charges against Jatiya Party people implicating them with those offences… in fact, the country's electoral system has collapsed and people are no longer showing interest in elections” the Jatiya Party chief observed.
BNP targets Jatiya Party for ‘simultaneous movement’ ahead of national polls
Buoyed by the party’s apparent ‘success’ in the ongoing anti-government street protests, opposition BNP is now planning to begin a ‘simultaneous’ movement with most opposition parties at the end of this year. Jatiya Party led by GM Quader is a major target to bring it under its election-time political alliance.
BNP insiders say the main and initial objective of their planned movement is to force the Awami League government to step down by restoring the caretaker government.
They say their many other demands, including withdrawing cases against political leaders, unconditional freedom for Khaleda Zia and formation of a new neutral Election Commission, will easily be realised if the current government steps down and hands over power to a neutral administration.
The party has already finalised the draft of a set of demands for waging the ‘simultaneous movement’ along with other parties and platforms with outcome from its discussions during the first round of political dialogue.
Also read: GM Quader expresses doubt about inclusive election
After weeks of street demonstrations in Dhaka and outside, BNP has begun its second round of dialogue with like-minded political parties.
Opposition parties to wage movement under Khaleda’s leadership: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today (October 03, 2022) said the planned “coinciding” movements by political parties to oust the current government of Bangladesh will be “under the leadership” of Khaleda Zia.
He said, “We have taken united steps (to hold coinciding movements) …We have already announced the (top) leader of our movement. Begum Khaleda Zia is our leader. In her absence, our acting chairman Tarique Rahman is our leader,” he said.
Fakhrul made the remarks while talking to reporters after a dialogue with Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar), a partner of the 20-party alliance, at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.
Also read: BNP determined to build non-communal Bangladesh: Fakhrul
He said they will start the simultaneous movement after completing the second round of dialogue with all the opposition parties.
The party began its second phase of talks with the first meeting with Kalyan Party on Sunday. The BNP Secretary General sat for dialogue with Jatiya Party (Kazi Zafar) on Monday with a goal to finalise the demands and issues that will be highlighted in the movement.
A nine-member delegation of the Jatiya Party, led by its chairman Mostafa Jamal Haider, joined the talks with Mirza Fakhrul and Nazrul Islam Khan, a standing committee member of BNP and 20-party coordinator.
Also read: Anti-govt Movement: BNP initiates 2nd phase of talks
Earlier, BNP had discussions with 23 parties during its first phase of talks that began on May 24 to work out the outline for launching a united movement to 'restore' democracy and people’s voting rights in Bangladesh.
GM Quader meets EU envoy
Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader met European Union Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley on Sunday morning.
The EU envoy invited Quader for breakfast meeting at his residence in the city’s Gulshan, according to a press release.
Meanwhile, the EU Ambassador tweeted, "European Union (EU) Heads of mission are continuing their regular meetings with political parties to gain insights into the outlook in Bangladesh. Today, together with HOMs of Sweden and Denmark, we met GM Quader, Chairman of the Jatiya Party for a wide-ranging exchange.”
Ambassadors of Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Norway and France in Dhaka were present at the meeting.
Jatiya Party removes Ziaul Haque Mridha from all party posts
Jatiya Party (JP) has removed Ziaul Haque Mridha, lawmaker from Brahmanbaria-2, from all his posts in the organisation, including that of the advisor to the chairman, amid infighting.
Party Chairman GM Quader took the decision by exercising his power given by the party constitution, said a press release Saturday.
The order has already been implemented, it added.
Jatiya Party Wednesday relieved lawmaker Mashiur Rahaman Ranga from all party posts, including that of the presidium member.
The removals came at a time when a conflict between the GM Quader and Raushon Ershad has surfaced recently over the control of the party ahead of the next general election.
Read: Jatiya Party relieves Ranga from all party posts
On August 31 last, Raushon, Jatiya Party chief patron and leader of the opposition in parliament, suddenly convened the party's national council for November 26.
A day later, Jatiya Party Parliamentary Party wrote to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury requesting her to make Quader the leader of the opposition, dropping Raushon.
In a statement on September 2, GM Quader said a third party was trying to implement an agenda by using the name of Raushon.
On December 3, 2018, then Jatiya Party Chairman and founder HM Ershad appointed Ranga its secretary general removing Ruhul Amin Hawlader.
After Ershad's death, current party chairman GM Quader made party co-chairman Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu its secretary general, removing Ranga from the post on July 26, 2020.
As Bablu passed away, party co-chairman Mujibul Haque Chunnu was appointed as Jatiya Party’s secretary general on October 10 last year.
Jatiya Party to shun alliances at next election: GM Quader
Jatiya Party (JP) chairman and deputy leader of the opposition GM Quader has said that his party won’t join any alliance in the next national election.
Quader said this while speaking as chief guest at a conference of the Hindu Grand Alliance, held at the Mahanagar Natyamanch on Friday noon.
“JP didn’t have any alliance with the Awami League (AL) in the previous election. We just had a polls-time understanding over some seats. Activists of both parties had worked for each other due to the understanding. I would rather say that JP and AL have friendly ties,” said Quader.
Quader added that voters don’t want Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to be used in the next general election.
“EVM is a machine for stealing votes. Anyone can be elected using this machine. We have been against it from the very start,” added Quader.
Read: Jatiya Party relieves Ranga from all party posts
The JP chairman also said that boycotting elections is a tough call to make.
“We aren’t interested in boycotting the election. We’ll take decisions in this regard after analyzing the situation on the ground. We’ll decide whether we’ll join the polls or not after discussing the matter at the party forum,” said Quader, the younger brother of JP's founder, late H.M. Ershad.
The conference was presided over by Dinbandhu Ray and moderated by Priyanka Sukul. Syed Abu Hossain Babla, co-chairman of JP and Sunil Shuvo Ray, presidium member of JP, among others, also spoke at the event.
EC's roadmap for next polls valueless: Chunnu
Jatiya Party Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu on Wednesday said the Election Commission's roadmap for the 12th parliamentary election is valueless.
He doubted that the Election Commission (EC) that has no power would be able to conduct a fair election.
As per the law, Chunnu said, the executive branch of the country is supposed to work under the EC during the polls, but nothing is mentioned about what will happen if the executive branch does not listen to the commission.
“So, the executive branch is not bound to obey the directives of the Election Commission,” the Jatiya Party leader said.
He said their party wanted the Election Commission to be empowered by enacting a law so that the commission can take immediate action if anyone disobeys its order. “But the Election Commission does not want to be empowered.”
Chunnu made the comments at the launching programme of an associate body of the Jatiya Party at its chairman’s Banani office.
Earlier in the day, the EC unveiled a roadmap for the 12th parliamentary election at a function at the auditorium of the Nirbachan Bhaban.
As per the roadmap, the general election will be held by January 29, 2024, using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in 150 constituencies out of 300 across the country.
Chunnu said the Election Commission has been making contradictory comments since the beginning. “They’re saying that it's not their job to bring someone to the polls. Then why did you discuss so much with so many political parties? They said, if everyone wants, the election will be held through ballots. The ruling party wants the use of EVM. Then will the commission use EVMs ignoring the opinions of the majority of the parties?”
He said the Election Commission has decided to buy 2 lakh more EVMs to conduct elections in 150 seats alongside constructing 10 warehouses in 10 regions of the country for EVM storage and maintenance.
Read: Jatiya Party relieves Ranga from all party posts
“For this, the Election Commission has prepared a budget of about Tk9, 000 crore. Such a decision is unacceptable amid the economic crisis of the country,” the Jatiya Party leader observed.
Stating that the people of the country no longer want to see Awami League and BNP in power, he said the two major parties have failed to ensure good governance in the country. “People of the country want to see a third political force. Jatiya Party is trying to be that alternative force.”
Chunnu said Jatiya Party will not be there in any alliance as it is preparing to participate in the election in all three hundred seats. “The Jatiya Party will not go to anyone else's alliance. If any political force wants to join us under the leadership of Jatiya Party, we will consider it.”
Jatiya Party relieves Ranga from all party posts
Jatiya Party has relieved lawmaker Mashiur Rahaman Ranga from all party posts, including that of the presidium member.
Party chairman GM Quader took the decision by exercising his power given by the party constitution, said a party press release on Wednesdays.
The press release, signed by Jatiya Party Joint Office Secretary Mahmud Alam, said the decision has already been implemented.
Ranga, a former secretary general of the party, has still been there in the post of Opposition Chief Whip in Parliament.
His removal came at a time when a conflict between the GM Quader and Raushon Ershad has surfaced recently over the control of the party ahead of the next general election.
On August 31 last, Jatiya Party Chief Patron and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Raushon suddenly convened the party's national council for November 26.
A day later, Jatiya Party Parliamentary Party wrote to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury requesting her to make Quader the leader of the opposition, dropping Raushon.
In a statement on September 2, GM Quader said a third party was trying to implement an agenda by using the name of Raushon.
Read: Jatiya Party submits audit report to EC
On December 3, 2018, then Jatiya Party Chairman and founder HM Ershad appointed Ranga its secretary general removing Ruhul Amin Hawlader.
After Ershad’s death, current party chairman GM Quader made party co-chairman Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu its secretary general removing Moshiur Rahman Ranga from the post on July 26, 2020.
As Bablu passed away, party co-chairman Mujibul Haque Chunnu was appointed as Jatiya Party’s secretary general on October 10 last year.
Police recovers GM Quader's phone
Police Wednesday recovered Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader's mobile phone eight days after it was snatched.
The law enforcers also arrested five members of a gang – Azizul, Md Aziz, Md Ismail, Md Sanaullah and Subal Chandra Ghosh – in connection with the theft, Officer-in-Charge of Airport Police Station BM Farman Ali said.
Read: It seems Bangladesh is paradise of mismanagement: GM Quader
On August 31, GM Quader's phone was snatched while he was talking on the phone in his car in the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport area. Later a case was filed.
During investigation, Azizul said he stole the phone and sold it to Ismail for Tk18,000.
Ismail sold the phone to Sanaullah for Tk20,000 who then sold it to Subal for Tk22,000.