A day after being dropped from the party’s leadership, Jatiya Party’s GM Quader was removed as the deputy leader of opposition in Parliament.
On Friday, Chairman HM Ershad relieved his younger brother of the party’s co-chairman post citing failures and on Saturday, he replaced Quader for the key parliament role with his wife and party’s Senior Co-Chairman Raushon Ershad.
Following the move by Ershad, known for his erratic decisions, speculations are rife now within the party as to who will replace Quader as the co-chairman.
But what led Ershad to ditch his brother who he had attempted to install as his heir several times?
According to some senior leaders, an issue over nominating candidates for women’s reserved seat MPs was behind the move while some others claimed that Quader did not coordinate with MPs after being made the deputy leader of opposition.
Speaking to Bangla Tribune on Saturday (Mar 23), Quader, however, said there was some kind of ‘pressure’ behind his removal.
“There’s no reason. I have been doing what I was told to do. Spoke with sir [Ershad] on Thursday. I don’t who mounted pressure [on him] that he had to remove me,” he said.
In his statement sent to the media on Friday, Ershad said Quader “totally failed” to run the party and its organisational activities have slowed down under his supervision.
“He has created rift within the party and the senior leaders have expressed their inability to work under his leadership”, it read.
Ershad had removed Raushon as the leader of Opposition in parliament after her five years in the office following the last general election.
He himself holds the post now while Quader was the deputy leader, a move which apparently irked Raushon and her followers, who had earlier foiled Ershad’s bids to make Quader his successor.
A member of the party’s policymaking Presidium, who is known to be pro-Raushon, hinted at issues nominating MPs to reserved women’s seats behind Quader’s dismissal.
“If that’s the case, then Secretary General Moshiur Rahman Ranga may be next in line to lose his post,” said the leader.
According to the leader, who asked not to be named, Quader and Ranga was involved in the process of nominating candidates and that there had been “some issues over financial transactions” regarding that.
Quader, however, says he had nothing to do with nominations for reserved seat MPs.
“That was overseen by sir [Ershad]. We had formed a committee, where a proposal was floated to create a fund for the party [through donations from candidates]. However, I refused it later emphasizing on the proper way, in line with the rules. I had made it clear then.
“There was a panel of five or six members and I didn’t do anything. Mr. Ershad cleared the nominations,” he told Bangla Tribune.
Some other JP presidium members, however, said Quader was removed on allegations of not coordinating with party MPs on parliamentary affairs after being made the deputy leader of opposition.
Quader, however, didn’t totally dismiss the allegations.
“There are three or four [MPs], who may have raised this issue. But I have an office in the Parliament, where I had been regularly. The procedure is, someone has to come in, if needed. But MPs usually are in the lobby when there’s no session and I am not available there. I have official duties [as the deputy leader of opposition],” he told Bangla Tribune.
But no party leader could spell out clearly why Ershad dropped his brother from the leadership.
“I can’t say specifically what led to the move, but he failed to come up with any kind of political success. He failed to perform inside or outside the parliament,” Presidium member and MP Kazi Feroze Rashid told Bangla Tribune.
However, according to a senior member in the presidium, ‘some force’ led Ershad to sack his brother.
“There was uproar among senior leaders over GM Quader. But there is some other reason behind his removal. It’s true that he didn’t coordinate with MPs or did not address organizational issues, but that not the reason. There's some other reason or force working behind Erhsad’s decision,” he told Bangla Tribune on condition of anonymity.
Who’s in as co-chairman?
Several sources within the Jatiya Party confirmed that Quader and General Secretary Ranga waited for three hours at Ershad’s Baridhara residence on Saturday, but failed to meet the party chief.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife within the party over who will replace Quader as co-chairman.
According to Presidium member Fakhrul Imam, a new face for the co-chairman sometime soon is unlikely.
“It doesn’t seem to happen anytime soon,” he told Bangla Tribune.
One of the names swirling as the new co-chairman is retired army lieutenant general Masud Uddin Chowdhury, but a presidium member dismissed it.
“Things may take a wrong turn, if he’s made the co-chairman,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Chowdhury, however, had a meeting with Ershad on Friday (Mar 22), the former three-star general’s personal aide Saifuddin Ahmed Mihir confirmed.
“He had gone to the JP chairman’s residence on Friday. But their discussions did not include this specific matter,” he told Bangla Tribune on Saturday.
Another presidium member, on condition of anonymity, said that former minister Anisul Islam Mahmud and former secretary general Ruhul Amin Hawlader are among the party’s chief’s next choice as co-chairman.
“If Moshiur Rahman Ranga loses his post [of secretary general], then I would say Mujibul Haque Chunnu may replace him,” he added.
During a 2016 party event in his stronghold Rangpur, Ershad appointed his brother Quader as co-chairman as well as announced him as his political heir.
Following growing resentment among a section of the senior leaders over Quader's promotion, he later made Raushon senior co-chairman.
Between the Dec 30 parliamentary polls and his trip to Singapore for treatment in January, Ershad had announced that Quader would do the duties of chairman in his absence.
Known for his changing stance, the former military dictator has now ditched his brother from the leadership as well as the key parliament role despite several attempts in the past to install him as his heir.
For now, Quader remains in the party as a member of its presidium.