A rumour sprang over the country yesterday that LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam is likely to be stripped off the charge and that the prime minister may shift him to another ministry.
However, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, who carries out all secretarial activities including changes in the cabinet, said he had no information of any shake-up.
Several media ran reports without citing any source that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered to remove Syed Ashraf at the Ecnec meeting held earlier in the day.
Ashraf, who has been at the helm of the LGRD ministry for the last seven years, was absent at the meeting.
An official who was present at the meeting said: “The prime minister has said that it will be better to remove him [Ashraf] since he does not attend meetings.”
Ashraf, however, asked the media not to entertain any rumour.
Son of national leader Syed Nazrul Islam, Ashraf was elected as the party’s general secretary in 2009. He retained his portfolio after the party returned to power last year.
