With the distribution of portfolios for the polls-time cabinet, 28 ministers of the Awami League-led ruling alliance were effectively dropped on Thursday from the government that will see the nation through the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Technocrat ministerShafique Ahmed, who was in charge of the law ministry, and industries minister DilipBarua were dropped from the interim cabinet but were made advisers to the prime minister.
Ministers MK Alamgir, SuranjitSengupta, ShaharaKhatun and DipuMoni, who have been at the centre of debates and criticism throughout the tenure of the Awami League’s rule, are among the 28 who were not included in the polls-time cabinet.
A gazette was published on Thursday, making public the list of the new ministers.
The 50-member cabinet of the Awami League alliance will now be on the shoulders of 28 ministers, excluding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who will now head the Cabinet Division, the Armed Forces Division, and the ministries for public administration, and defence.
The home ministry has been left in the care of its incumbent State MinisterShamsulHoqueTuku.
All ministers had submitted letters to the prime minister on November 11, expressing their intent on resigning.
ShaharaKhatun came in the limelight as the home minister for her comments following the murder of journalist couple SagarSarwar and MeherunRuni. She was eventually removed from home affairs and given the assignment ofthe post and telecommunications ministry.
Workers’ Party of Bangladesh chief Rashed Khan Menon will now take her place in the ministry.
The fate of Sagar-Runimurder case did not, however,change after MK Alamgir took charge in September 2012.
SuranjitSengupta was initially the minister for railwaysbut was made a minister without a portfolio after a financialscandal involving one of his personal aides.
DipuMoni, who remained the minister for foreign affairs throughout the rule of the Awami League-led alliance, has often been criticised for making frequent foreign trips. She will be replaced by AbulHasan Mahmud Ali.
The other ministers who have not been included in the cabinet are Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, Rezaul Karim Hira, AbulKalam Azad, EnamulHaqueMostafaShahid, Muhammad Faruk Khan, MdAbdurRazzak, MdAfsarul Amin, AFM RuhalHaque, Abdul Latif Biswas and MostafaFaruk Mohammad.
The 14 state ministers dropped are Mostafizur Rahman, AB Tajul Islam, Yeafesh Osman, Ahad Ali Sarkar, Shahjahan Mia, Abdul Mannan Khan, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Motahar Hossain, EnamulHaque, Mojibur Rahman Fakir, Omar Faruq Chowdhury, Mahbubur Rahman, Abdul Hai and MeherAfroz.
With the induction of ZiauddinBablu on November 18 and inclusion of Shafique Ahmed and DilipBarua, the number of the prime minister’s advisers now stands at 10.
