Former President and Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad has been appointed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s special envoy with the rank and status of a cabinet minister.
The Cabinet Division yesterday issued a gazette notification in this regards. According to sources, guests present at the oath taking ceremony started laughing at
Ershad’s arrival at the programme at Bangabhaban.
Earlier on Saturday, Ershad, who was being treated at the Combined Military Hospital in the capital, took oath as a Member of Parliament amid strict secrecy and
returned to the hospital.
However, after being appointed as the special envoy to the prime minister yesterday, the Jatiya Party chief returned to his President’s Park residence at Baridhara.
Meanwhile, frustration and anger prevails in a section of the Jatiya Party (JP-Ershad) over allotment of portfolios in the ministry for the 10th Parliament. According
to JP sources, they had sought portfolios for GM Quader, ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader, Anisul Islam Mahmud, Kazi Firoz Rashid, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu, Mujibul Huq Chunnu,
Mashiur Rahman Ranga, advocate Salma Islam, Syed Abu Hossain Babla and Tajul Islam, but have got berths for just one full minister and two state ministers.
Some senior JP leaders expressed disappointment with the ruling party, the Awami League (AL), for not distributing portfolios in accordance with the JP’s demands.
JP lawmaker Anisul Islam Mahmud took oath as a minister, while Mujibul Huq Chunnu and Mashiur Rahman Ranga were sworn in as state ministers.
Expressing his disappointment, JP presidium member Kazi Firoz Rashid, MP, said: “We demanded five ministers in the cabinet. But they allotted us only one full minister
and two state ministers. We are dissatisfied over the allotment of portfolios.”
Courtesy of The Independent
