Manju to contest polls with bicycle symbol

Anwar Hossain Manju, chairman of Jatiya Party (Manju), will contest in the upcoming general election with its electoral symbol of a bicycle, from Pirojpur 2 constituency. 

Bhandaria upazila unit Jatiya Party Member Secretary and Dhaoa UP Chairman, Siddiqur Rahman, said Manju is going to compete in the constituency with the Jatiya Party’ s symbol bicycle, not the boat, the Awami League’s symbol.

The ruling party kept two constituencies for Jatiya Party (Manju): Pirojpur 2 and Kurigram 4, he said.

Jatiya Party (Manju) is a Bangladesh political party led by Anwar Hossain Manju. It is a splinter group of the original Jatiya Party that was founded by Hussain Mohammad Ershad.

Manju represents Pirojpur 2 constituency which consists of Kawkhali, Bhandaria, and Indurkani upazilas. He was elected Member of Jatiyo Sangshad six times from this constituency: in 1986, 1988, 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2014 .

Manju was the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resource of Bangladesh from 1985 to 1988 under Hossain Mohammad Ershad. He also served as Minister of Communications from 1988 to1990 for Ershad's government. Now he is the  current Minister of Water Resources.

It should be mentioned that when Awami League secured majority seats in the Jatiya Sangsad, Jatiya Party gave support to Awami League to form the government and joined the cabinet. 

Anwar Hossain Manju, the secretary general of the party, was included in the cabinet of Sheikh Hasina in charge of the Ministry of Communication.

Ershad was released on bail from jail on 9 January 1997. The Jatiya Party had a rift wrangling for leadership  in 2000, resulting in three factions, each headed by General Ershad, Anwar Hossain Manju, and Naziur Rahman Manju, respectively.