CT Online Desk:
Some big names left out as new faces win berth in 37 member council of ministers. In a surprise move, Sheikh Hasina has dropped 30 of her old colleagues, including some heavyweights, to form her new council of ministers that is set to take oath of office this evening. There will be 15 new ministers in the upcoming council of ministers comprising 37 members, the smallest in recent decades if no other members are inducted. Hasina will herself take oath today as prime minister for a record fourth straight term, making her the longest serving PM yet in Bangladesh's history.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin yesterday invited Hasina, also the Awami League chief, to form the new government after AL's win in Sunday's election. Cabinet Secretary Mahbub Hossain unveiled the names of the 37 council of ministers. Other than prime minister, there will be 25 ministers and 11 state ministers.
"I have called them to inform about their appointment and congratulated them," he said. The president will administer the oath at Bangabhaban at 7:00pm. The 30 ministers, state ministers and deputy ministers dropped from the 48-member outgoing council of ministers include Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Planning Minister MA Mannan, Textile and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi and Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan. The other ministers who were shown the door are Social Welfare Minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed, Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim, Environment Minister Md Shahab Uddin, Chattogram Hill Tracks Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury and Expatriate Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad.
State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam, a technocrat minister who resigned from the cabinet in November, was also dropped. Among the 30 shown the door are 15 ministers, 13 state ministers and two deputy ministers. The 25-member cabinet will have 15 new faces, including two state ministers and a deputy minister from the outgoing council of ministers who will now become full minister. The cabinet will also include two technocrats. Of the 37 members in the new council of ministers, 14 are first timers -- seven ministers and seven state ministers.
State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain, State Minister for Religious Affairs Faridul Haque Khan and Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury will now become minister. Seven of the 11 state ministers in the new council of ministers are newcomers. The rest four were retained from the outgoing council of ministers. Hasina did not include in the new cabinet anyone from her party's electoral allies.
The state ministers who have been left out include Kamal Ahmed Mojumder (industries), Zahid Ahsan Russel (youth and sports), Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru (social welfare), Begum Monnuzan Sufian (labour and employment), Zakir Hossain (primary and mass education), Shahriar Alam (foreign affairs), Shwapan Bhattacharjee (rural development and cooperative division), Sharif Ahmed (housing and public works), KM Khalid (cultural affairs), Md Enamur Rahman (disaster management and relief), Mahbub Ali (civil aviation and tourism), and Fazilatun Nessa (women and children affairs).
Deputy ministers Habibun Nahar (environment and forest) and AKM Enamul Haque Shamim (water resources) were also dropped. Former commerce minister Muhammad Faruk Khan, former foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, former chief whip Md Abdus Shahid, Brahmanbaria-3 MP Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, AL Presidium Member Abdur Rahman, former fisheries and livestock minister Narayan Chandra Chanda, Mymensingh-9 MP Abdus Salam, Rajbari-2 MP Md Zillul Hakim, former deputy minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury, former state minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak, incumbent president of Bangladesh Cricket Board Nazmul Hassan, and renowned physician Samanta Lal Sen have been given berth in the cabinet as new members.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Education Minister Dipu Moni, LGRD Minister Tazul Islam, Law Minister Anisul Huq, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, and Yeafesh Osman have been retained in the cabinet. Yeafesh, who was the technocrat minister for science and technology, resigned in November, two months before the national polls.
AL Presidium Member Simeen Hussain, central committee member Mohammad Ali Arafat, Patuakhali-4 MP Mohibur Rahman, Khagrachhari MP Kujendra Lal Tripura, first-time Gazipur-3 MP Rumana Ali, Sylhet district AL President Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury, and Tangail-6 lawmaker Ahasanul Islam are the new members inducted as state ministers. Nasrul Hamid, Junaid Ahmed Palak, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and Zaheed Farooque retained their position as state ministers.
The new cabinet will have four women members including the prime minister. Two of them were brought in as state ministers. The cabinet will also have four members from minority communities -- three of them as ministers. In the cabinet formed after the 2018 election, Hasina dropped 34 of the 47 ministers, including AL bigwigs Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, and Matia Chowdhury.
DCT/OL/AH/END
