♦ Jatiya Party on verge of fifth split over polls participation disagreement

♦ Raushan Ershad boycotts election; GM Quader faction to contest 280+ seats

♦ Previous splits led to factions under Naziur Rahman Manju, Anwar Hossain Manju, Kazi Zafar and MA Matin

♦ Raushan's faction vows to reclaim the party; to hold meeting in 1-2 days

♦ They will observe situation till 17 Dec, last day of candidacy withdrawal, to go for action

Jatiya Party is going to split again as leaders loyal to party’s Chief Patron Raushan Ershad and Chairman GM Quader have divided over participation in the upcoming general election, say insiders.

Being deprived of party nominations for her followers as per their expectations, Raushan Ershad has decided not to join the election while the GM Quader faction is going to contest over 280 constituencies.

With this, the party established by former military dictator HM Ershad will split for the fifth time.

Earlier, Jatiya Party leaders broke away from the party for four times, leading to the formation of factions -- led by Naziur Rahman Manju, Anwar Hossain Manju, Kazi Zafar and MA Matin.

“We’re boycotting the general election. We’ll recover the party from them (GM Quader faction). We’ll hold a meeting in a day or two in this regard,” Raushan Ershad’s Political Secretary Golam Mosih told the Daily Sun.

He said they will observe the overall situation until 17 December, the last date for withdrawal of candidacy, to go for any action.

Meanwhile, Jatiya Party Secretary General Mujibul Haque Chunnu said whether Raushan Ershad will contest the election or not is purely her own choice.

Asked whether the Raushan faction, including her son Rahgir Al Mahi Saad Ershad, breached party discipline and whether any organisational action will be taken against them, he said, “Raushan madam is party’s chief patron and it isn’t an organisational post but we’ll decide about Saad in our next meeting.”

Talking to the Daily Sun, a senior leader of the Raushan faction said the party has actually split again due to GM Quader’s behaviour towards them over participation in the election.

None from the Raushan faction, including Saad Ershad, either collected nomination form from Jatiya Party or submitted nomination paper as independent candidate to contest the polls though the deadline for filing nomination ended on Thursday.

After a meeting on Wednesday night, Raushan Ershad at a press conference at her Gulshan office read out a written statement, announcing the election boycott.

The meeting decided to take the next course of action in a day or two, said a statement signed by Golam Mosih.

Chunnu said they decided to give nomination to Raushan for Mymensingh-4 constituency, Saad Ershad for Mymensingh-7 and former Mymensingh district unit President KR Islam from Mymensingh-5 but they did not collect nomination forms. “That’s why we’ve nominated alternative candidates in those seats,” he said.

Jatiya Party earlier announced candidates for 287 constituencies, keeping Mymensingh-4 constituency vacant for the party’s chief patron.

GM Quader, who was elected from Lalmonirhat-3 constituency in the 11th parliamentary elections, will vie from Rangpur-3 and Dhaka-17 constituencies this time.

Raushan Ershad who was elected from Mymensingh-4 and her son Saad Ershad who was elected from Rangpur-3 did not collect nomination forms.

The party sources said Raushan sought nominations for some of her followers, including her son, for specific constituencies. But GM Quader did not agree with that.

She wanted to nominate five more followers in seats as per their choice -- Mashiur Rahman Ranga, KR Islam, former Presidium members Kazi Mamunur Rashid and Habibullah Belali and Joint General Secretary Iqbal Hossain.

But the party chairman did not agree with this except the nomination for Saad Ershad and KR Islam.

GM Quader recently met Raushan Ershad at her residence and discussed party’s participation in the election but they could not reach any understanding over distribution of nomination among party aspirants, sources said.