Ershad, too, calls Khaleda to quit cantt house....................

Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad Thursday asked BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to leave her cantonment house, a day after prime minister Sheikh Hasina made a similar appeal.

"I think she (Khaleda) should leave the house for the sake of democracy," he told reporters in Rangpur.

"It is not right to run political activities in the cantonment. As the cantonment is a restricted area it will amount to sabotage if different sections of people move in the place," the former president said.

Ershad, who was then the army chief, allotted the house to Khaleda after the killing of her husband, former president Ziaur Rahman.

"I, as the army chief, allotted her the house being concerned about her two sons. If I knew that she would pursue politics there I would not allot it to her."

Hasina told parliament Wednesday evening it was former president HM Ershad who was responsible for allocation of the 6 Shaheed Mainul Road house to Khaleda.

"Ershad allotted the house to [Khaleda] violating law to make his sister-in-law (Khaleda) happy," Hasina said.

The former president said Khaleda was also allocated a house in Gulshan; the two houses were allotted so that the family could survive well.

"No member of parliament, no leader of the opposition, should live in the cantonment," Hasina said.

"I will request her to leave her 6 Shaheed Mainul Road house in Dhaka Cantonment," she told parliament.

"The cabinet will decide whether to cancel this allotted house. I alone cannot decide," she said.

Earlier, Ershad cast his vote for by-polls at Senpara Government Primary School centre.

He said the victory of his wife, Rawshan, was "confirmed" in the constituency, Rangpur-3.