Just seven months into Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's third straight term in office, she is going to expand her cabinet with a few new faces.
According to sources at the Cabinet Division, new faces including at least two female lawmakers and three Awami League central leaders are likely to be included in the cabinet very soon.
A cabinet reshuffle is very likely, but no one from the present cabinet will be dropped according to party sources.
A list of five new cabinet members was finalized to be included in the cabinet upon the prime minister's return from China.
Sources confirmed that two Awami League organizing secretaries, a secretary, and two reserve seat lawmakers are on the list.
In the present cabinet, there are still some ministries including Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, Fisheries and Livestock, Shipping, Primary and Mass Education, Water Resources, Culture, Labour and Employment, Disaster Management and Relief, Civil Aviation and Tourism, and Religious Affairs ministries which have no full ministers. Some ministries have no state ministers, including Home Affairs, Textile and Jute, Land, Housing and Public Works, Food, Commerce, Agriculture, Liberation War Affairs, Railways, and Law ministries.
Of the new faces, three are likely to be included as technocrat ministers.
However, Awami League general secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Monday that the cabinet expansion may not happen very soon.
On January 7 this year, forty-seven members of a new council of ministers, composed of over two dozen first-timers, took oath of office following Awami League’s massive victory in the 11th general election held on December 30, 2018.
On May 19, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reallocated portfolios of five cabinet members when she curtailed the powers of two ministers and increased that of two state ministers.
