The Secretariat was abuzz on Tuesday with speculations on a possible date for the oath-taking of the members of the interim cabinet with the Cabinet Division having finished all preparations for the ceremony.
The officials of the Cabinet Division are now waiting for the instruction of the prime minister.
“We are ready to hold the oath-taking ceremony of the new ministers of the interim government. Whenever we get instructions from the prime minister, we are ready to arrange the programme on a short notice,” Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday.
A strong rumour spread in the Secretariat on Tuesday – two days after the ministers had submitted letters expressing their intent to resign – that the new cabinet would be sworn in this evening at Bangabhaban.
An official of the Cabinet Division told the Dhaka Tribune that the prime minister desired to hold the oath-taking before her departure on an official visit to Sri Lanka. Hasina will leave Dhaka for Sri Lanka tomorrow and will return November 15 midnight.
Dismissing the rumour, however, the cabinet secretary said: “We are yet to get any instruction from the Prime Minister’s Office on holding the oath-taking.”
When communicated with the high officials at the president’s office, they also said they did not get any signal from the PMO regarding the oath-taking ceremony, but they asserted positively about their preparations.
Several ministers already said the number of the members of the new cabinet would be maximum 20 – a few, among them, from the present cabinet – and it would be formed by next week.
There are speculations that ruling Awami League leaders Tofail Ahmed and Amir Hossain Amu, Jatiya Party leader Anisul Islam Mahmud and Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon might take oath as new ministers.
Tofail, however, rejected the idea of his entrance in the new cabinet, a number of sources said.
Among the present ministers, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Agriculture Minister Motia Chowdhury, LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Planning Minister AK Khandakar, Home Minister MK Alamgir, Jute and Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Siddique, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Food Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque and Minister without portfolio Suranjit Sengupta might continue in their offices from the ruling Awami League.
The sources also said Jatiya Party leader and Commerce Minister GM Quader and JSD President and
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu might also continue in the interim cabinet.
Among the senior ministers, Industries Minister Dilip Borua and Law Minister Shafique Ahmed will not be in the polls-time government as they are not elected members of parliament.