Jatiya Party

The party was established by a retired army officer, Hussain Mohammad Ershad on 1 January 1986. He was the Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh Army. He had seized power through a coup d'état on 24 March 1982. He ruled the country as chief martial law administrator till December 1983. Politics was banned during the state of emergency imposed by Ershad, when Justice A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury was appointed President of Bangladesh. The Janadal Party was formed under the leadership of A. F. M. Ahsanuddin Chowdhury, through Ershads declaration of the 19-point programme on 17 March 1983.^[4]

Chowdhury announced the formation of Janadal on 27 November 1983. Chowdhury was the convenor and MA Matin as general secretary. When Ershad became president, Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury was named chairman and Riazuddin Ahmed (Bhola Miah) the general secretary. Ershad formed a second political party, Jatiya Front, under the Bangladesh Nationalist Party politician Shah Azizur Rahman, with members of Janadal and Muslim League, the Ganatantri Dal, United Peoples Party. Brothers Moudud Ahmed, and Anwar Hossain Manju joined Jatiya Front. The front was dissolved in six months and a new political party called Jatiya Party was formed on 1 January 1986 with Ershad as its chairman.