The two feuding groups of Jatiya Party have finally reached a consensus to keep the party united accepting GM Quader as its Chairman and Raushon Ershad the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.

Amid conflicts over the post of party chairman and leader of the opposition, the leaders loyal to both GM Quader and Raushon had a meeting at a Baridhara Club on Saturday night and took some decisions to avoid the inevitable split in the party.

Party secretary general Moshiur Rahman Ranga came up with the decisions of the meeting at a press briefing at party chairman’s Gulshan office on Sunday.

party is now united as there’s now no division in it. We had a controversy over the post of our party chairman, and we resolved it yesterday (Saturday). GM Quader will perform the responsibility of Chairman as per the directive of our late founder chairman HM Ershad,” Ranga said.
Besides, he said, Raushon Ershad will discharge the duties of Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.

The Jatiya Party leader said their meeting also discussed the possible party candidate for the Rangpur-3 by-polls and gave the party chairman and secretary general responsibility to finalise the candidate.

He said they may announce the name of their party candidate by today or tomorrow.

Ranga said their party averted a split following the meeting of its some top leaders on Saturday night.

He said there are some leaders in every party who want to catch fish in troubled waters, and create divisions to make their personal gains. “But we’ve been able to remove the division and we’re now united.”

Ranga also said their party’s council will be held on November 30 as per the announcement of party chief GM Quader.

A day after GM Quader’s letter for officially recognising him as the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Jatiya Party Senior Co-Chairman Raushon Ershad on Wednesday wrote to the Speaker not to accept it, exposing a fresh conflict in the party.

In the letter sent to Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Raushon said GM Quader sent the letter without any decision at the party forum and meeting of the Jatiya Party Parliamentary Party.

On Thursday, a group of Jatiya Party leaders announced HM Ershad’s widow Raushon Ershad its chairperson, putting the party on the verge of a split.

The party leaders, Loyal to Raushon, also claimed that GM Quader was announced Jatiya Party chairman violating the party constitution.

In a counter-press conference, GM Quader warned of taking action in line with the party constitution against those party leaders who announced his sister-in-law Raushon Ershad its chairman.

On July 18, party secretary general Moshiur Rahman Ranga formally announced HM Ershad’s younger brother GM Quader as Jatiya Party chairman at a press conference.

Before his death, Ranga said, Ershad through an organisational instruction had announced that GM Quader would be the party chairman in his absence. “So, we’ve decided that GM Quader is our party chairman.

Four days later, Raushon in a statement said GM Quader cannot be declared the chairman of the party without any decision at the party forum.

Ershad appointed his brother Quader acting chairman and his heir to the party before his death on July 14.