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Hasina leans on JP for 'credible' polls

8 new ministers take oath; job distribution, fate of old ones to be disclosed today

SHAKHAWAT LITON and PARTHA PRATIM Bhattacharjee
The prime minister yesterday inducted five Jatiya Party leaders into her cabinet and appointed another as her adviser, in a clear manifestation of banking on former military dictator Ershad's party to overcome the crisis centring on the election.
Through this, Sheikh Hasina has begun forming the polls-time government that has eight members so far.
Two of the other three are from the Awami League and one from the Workers Party.
Earlier in the day, the JP quit the AL-led grand alliance and announced that it would contest the general election independently.
Asked to comment on the development, an AL presidium member termed it most natural. "Nothing has happened out of the blue. What has happened was to happen."
The new ministers, however, were not given their portfolios because the process of forming the polls-time cabinet is not over yet. Hasina has yet to finalise the names of ministers who will remain in the
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cabinet, government sources said.
The polls-time cabinet will be "moderately big" and may have around 30 members, the sources said, adding that almost all the senior ministers would retain their posts.
A gazette notification will be issued today regarding the re-distribution of portfolios. The gazette will also clarify who would not be in the election-time government, Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters yesterday.
This latest move is almost certain to face strong resistance from the BNP-led 18-party alliance. The opposition has all along maintained that it would not take part in the election if it is not held under a non-party caretaker government.
Of late, the BNP has even threatened to resist any polls under Hasina administration.
To frustrate the opposition plan, the government and AL policymakers have long been trying to forge an "alternative" opposition alliance led by HM Ershad, the deposed mili-tary ruler.
After a meeting between Hasina and Ershad on October 21 at the Gono Bhaban, AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam told journalists that the JP would compete against the AL if the BNP boycotted the polls.
But the grand alliance would remain intact if the BNP took part in the election, he added.
As part of the strategy, Ershad yesterday quit the AL-led grand alliance and announced to participate in the election. And he has already moved to form an alliance with some Islamic and other small parties.
Ershad's meeting on Sunday with I lefajat-e Islam chief Ahmed Shafi was aimed at obtaining support of the Qwami madrasa-based organisation that Shafi heads.
"Since we have decided to participate in the polls, we are joining the polls-time govern-
ment," Ershad said when asked why his party joined the cabinet despite quitting the grand alliance.
Political analysts say if the BNP boycotts the upcoming polls, JP's participation in it would lend some kind of legitimacy to the election, which the government so desperately wants. But all these government efforts will go in vain if the JP refuses to go to the polls at the eleventh hour.
On February 15, 1996, the BNP-led government held a one-sided election that the AL, JP, Jamaat and other parties boycotted. The election lacked credibility and the House lasted just two weeks.
Towards the end of the last BNP-led four-party rule, the BNP tried hard to bring JP in its alliance. To secure a deal, Ershad was acquitted in a number of cases pending against him. But Ershad did not finally join the BNP-led alliance as his demands were not fully met.
This time, Ershad bargained with the government for more seats in the election-time government. The government offered the JP three posts, but Ershad kept pressing for more and the ruling party eventually gave in to his demand, said sources in the AL.
The five JP MPs inducted in the cabinet are Ruhul Amin Hawlader, Rawshan Ershad, Anisul Islam Mahmud, Mujibul Haque Ghunnu and Salma Islam. Of them, the first three took oath as ministers and the last two as state ministers.
JP Presidium Member Ziauddin Bablu was appointed the PM's adviser with a minister's status. Including him, Hasina now has eight advisers.
Two senior AL leaders - Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed - and Rashed Khan Menon ofWorkers Party also took oath as ministers.
Tofail and Menon had earlier declined to join the cabinet.