In a meeting boycotted by Raushan Ershad and those loyal to her, Jatiya Party presidium members yesterday decided to withdraw the party leaders from the Sheikh Hasina-led cabinet, according to meeting sources.

The meeting, chaired by JP Chairman HM Ershad at his Banani office around 11:30am, also decided to hold the party's national council on April 16.

However, pro-Raushan presidium members termed the meeting "illegal" and refused to accept the decision on quitting the cabinet.

“The meeting was illegal as it was convened by the illegally appointed secretary general [Ruhul Amin Hawlader] of the Jatiya Party," said JP Presidium Member Anisul Islam Mahmud, also water resources minister.

"The party chief appointed him [Hawlader] violating the party's charter. The legal secretary general of the party was not present at the meeting,” he told The Daily Star yesterday evening.

Anisul is one of the three JP members in Hasina's council of ministers. The other two are State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu and State Minister for LGRD Moshiur Rahman Ranga.

Opposition Chief Whip Tajul Islam Chowdhury, another member of the party's apex policy and decision-making forum, said, “We do not agree with them on quitting the cabinet. We didn't attend the meeting. Who are they to take the decision?"

Raushan, leader in of the opposition in parliament and JP presidium member, said she would come up with her reaction after properly going through the meeting's decision.

After the two-hour presidium meeting, newly appointed JP Co-chairman GM Quader at a media briefing said all the members of the forum agreed that it was necessary for the party to quit the cabinet.

“Most of the presidium members felt that Jatiya Party's position is not clear in people's mind. Therefore, almost all the policymakers expressed the view that the three ministers from the party should quit the cabinet. This is part of the primary steps to restore the party's image among people,” he said.

Ershad on January 17 "unilaterally" appointed his younger brother Quader as JP co-chairman, a post that does not exist in the party's constitution.

The JP presidium meeting, however, left it to Ershad to make the final decision on when and how the ministers would quit the cabinet.

Twenty-two members of the 37-strong forum were present at the meeting, according to party sources.

Those who boycotted the meeting included Raushan, Anisul, Chunnu, Ranga, Tajul, Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu and Kazi Firoz Rashid.

Asked about the absence of these leaders, Quader said Raushan could not attend the meeting because of her official programmes.

“Some other members could not join the meeting for various reasons. But it doesn't indicate any rift in the party. There's no division among us. We're united,” he claimed.

At the briefing, new JP Secretary General Ruhul Amin Howlader said the April 16 council of the party would be held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital, and district-based monitoring cells would be formed for the upcoming union parishad elections to help the JP-backed candidates.

Rifts in the JP leadership surfaced after Quader was made the party's co-chairman.

On January 18, the then secretary general Bablu and some other pro-Raushan leaders declared her as acting chairman of the JP.

At a press conference next day, Ershad replaced Bablu with Howlader as JP secretary general, further widening the rift.