'It was Ershad who made me acting JP chief'

Jatiya Party presidium member Anisul Islam Mahmud yesterday claimed that JP Chairman HM Ershad himself appointed him as the acting chairman of the party after the 1/11 political changeover in 2007 in a bid to "avoid arrest".

"He [Ershad] escaped arrest that time as I took charge of the party on his advice. Ershad, like Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, too would have had to go to jail had it not been done," Mahmud, also the water resources minister, said at a press briefing at his ministry's conference room.

"It would become [a] minus-three [formula] then."

Mahmud made the statements after the JP chief on Sunday demanded his trial for his (Mahmud's) alleged role in the 1/11 changeover. The minister called the press conference to respond to the allegation.

At a programme in Sherpur that day, Ershad alleged that Mahmud illegally became the party's acting chairman ousting him from the chairman post during the political turmoil.

Replying to that, Mahmud said he was a minister in Ershad's cabinet for seven years and enjoyed much freedom then. "…I did not say anything against him [Ershad] openly.

"But today, I have been compelled to say something… whatever he [Ershad] said about me is not true.

"He [Ershad] gave me the party's acting chairman post after 1/11 and it was done as per the party decision following consultations with him. The appointment did not aim at removing him [Ershad] from politics," added the minister.

The JP leader claimed that Ershad made him, instead of GM Quader, the "legal guardian" of the FDR account of Eric, son of the JP boss. Quader is Ershad's brother.

He also alleged that Ershad had asked JP ministers to leave the cabinet on Quader's advice.

Criticising the JP leadership for making Quader the party co-chairman, Mahmud said there is no such post in the party constitution. "…A party cannot run this way."

He alleged that Quader on one hand termed the present government, parliament and the last national election "illegal" and wanted to take part in the by-elections in Rangpur and Narayanganj on the other.

"His words and actions don't add up," he said.

Replying to a query whether JP would split further, he said there was no such possibility of that.