Jatiya Party lawmaker Mujibul Huq Chunnu on Tuesday told parliament that the participation of some Jatiya Party leaders in the 2014 general election under the leadership of Raushan Ershad saved the country from a constitutional lapse.
The Jatiya Party secretary general said this speaking on a point of order in parliament.
He said that a few of them participated in the elections under the leadership of Begum Ershad in 2014 by rebelling against the party chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad.
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Chunnu said that in the 2008 elections Jatiya Party took part as a partner of the Grand Alliance, led by the Awami League.
Referring to the party’s participation in 2014 and 2018 elections he said JP always takes part in polls as it’s an election-oriented party.”
Chunnu mentioned that Jatiya Party has proved that the practice of boycotting the parliament is not good.
He recalled that the 2014 elections were boycotted by the Jatiya Party. Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad decided at the last moment against contesting the polls, and he wrote letters to all the candidates across the country to withdraw their nominations.
“There was such a situation that day.. BNP would not come to the election. No party will come. If Jatiya Party did not come then an unconstitutional situation would have been created in Bangladesh. A constitutional vacuum would have been created.”
On that day, Begum Roshan Ershad along with a section of JP leaders betrayed with HM Ershad and decided to participate in that election under her leadership.
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Referring to Ershad's election in Lalmonitorhat-1 seat, the party secretary general said that the party head submitted his nomination papers in some constituencies including Lalmonirhat, Rangpur during that election.
“He did not want to contest in Rangpur. We only for legacy contested in the election,” he added.
Pointing to Awami League MP Motahar Hossain of Lalmonirhat-1 constituency, Chunnu said, in 2014, if we had not come to the election under the leadership of Begum Ershad, then he could not have become MP or state minister.
“He could become the state minister because of our election. Why people forget the past.”
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury gave a ruling and said that yesterday, during the discussion on the thanksgiving motion of President’s speech, Motahar Hossain's remarks which was not related to the speech of the President had been expunged.
“Along with that, the unparliamentary language used by the member of parliament of the opposition party Kazi Feroz Rashid in his speech had also been expunged.”