Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is widening her Cabinet, throwing in four senior politicians as she attempts to reclaim the political initiative with a year before the government runs its term.
Tofail Ahmed, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haq Inu and Mujibul Haque are set to take oath soon, a government source privy to the development told bdnews24.com on Wednesday night.
Omor Faruk Chowdhury and Abdul Hyee were also going to be sworn in as state minister in a move intended to inject new life into government functioning, the source added.
When Cabinet Secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan was reached for confirmation, he said," The names are correct."
But a senior Bangabhaban official said at 11:20pm Wednesday that no swearing-in ceremony had been planned "as yet" for Thursday as widely reported in the media.
"We haven't received any such request as yet," President's Press Secretary AKM Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan said.
President M Zillur Rahman will swear the five in.
The media has spent months trying to shine a fitful light on a possible shake-up, intensely so in the past few days.
Relegated to ceremonial advisory role in Awami League, Tofail – the Industries and Commerce Minister in the 1996-2001 Hasina administration – is being brought back in from the cold. Former Secretary Alamgir, a former technocrat State Minister for Planning, spent time in prison during the 2007-8 emergency rule and it is now clear that the Presidium member's loyalty is not lost on the party.
Omor Faruk is the Awami League MP from Rajshahi-1 and Abdul Hyee is from Jhenaidah-1.
It will be baptism in government for Workers Party chief Menon and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal head Inu, who are being finally rewarded for being on the side of Awami League on key policy issues, Mujibul Haque who is a ruling party whip in Parliament. Inu heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on telecommunications ministry and Menon is the Chairman of the one on education ministry.
Put to the test will be the governance skills of the left-leaning stalwarts, who along with Tofail, have, of late, been vocal about the government's handling of affairs such as Sonali Bank loan scam and lack of action over the 2007 August torture by troops at Dhaka University.
The fourth shake-up in the Cabinet since the Awami League and allies took office in 2009. The latest additions in the Cabinet were Suranjit Sengupta and Obaidul Quader who took oath last year. Suranjit forced his way in after three years but was caught up in scandal and resigned as Railway Minister after only four months in office.
After the coalition rode to power, Hasina formed her team with new faces, leaving the old ones in the cold.
In the first two shuffles, heavyweights like Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail, Abdur Razzaque, Abdul Jalil and Suranjit Sengupta were overlooked.
Tofail and Suranjit came under scathing criticism by party supporters – who branded them as 'reformists'– for siding with the military-backed caretaker government that detained Hasina in jail and tried to exile her.
From the Grand Alliance partners, Hasina brought two leaders in the Cabinet – Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammad Quader of Jatiya Party and Industries Minister Dilip Barua of Samyabadi Dal.
Tofail Ahmed, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haq Inu and Mujibul Haque are set to take oath soon, a government source privy to the development told bdnews24.com on Wednesday night.
Omor Faruk Chowdhury and Abdul Hyee were also going to be sworn in as state minister in a move intended to inject new life into government functioning, the source added.
When Cabinet Secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan was reached for confirmation, he said," The names are correct."
But a senior Bangabhaban official said at 11:20pm Wednesday that no swearing-in ceremony had been planned "as yet" for Thursday as widely reported in the media.
"We haven't received any such request as yet," President's Press Secretary AKM Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan said.
President M Zillur Rahman will swear the five in.
The media has spent months trying to shine a fitful light on a possible shake-up, intensely so in the past few days.
Relegated to ceremonial advisory role in Awami League, Tofail – the Industries and Commerce Minister in the 1996-2001 Hasina administration – is being brought back in from the cold. Former Secretary Alamgir, a former technocrat State Minister for Planning, spent time in prison during the 2007-8 emergency rule and it is now clear that the Presidium member's loyalty is not lost on the party.
Omor Faruk is the Awami League MP from Rajshahi-1 and Abdul Hyee is from Jhenaidah-1.
It will be baptism in government for Workers Party chief Menon and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal head Inu, who are being finally rewarded for being on the side of Awami League on key policy issues, Mujibul Haque who is a ruling party whip in Parliament. Inu heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on telecommunications ministry and Menon is the Chairman of the one on education ministry.
Put to the test will be the governance skills of the left-leaning stalwarts, who along with Tofail, have, of late, been vocal about the government's handling of affairs such as Sonali Bank loan scam and lack of action over the 2007 August torture by troops at Dhaka University.
The fourth shake-up in the Cabinet since the Awami League and allies took office in 2009. The latest additions in the Cabinet were Suranjit Sengupta and Obaidul Quader who took oath last year. Suranjit forced his way in after three years but was caught up in scandal and resigned as Railway Minister after only four months in office.
After the coalition rode to power, Hasina formed her team with new faces, leaving the old ones in the cold.
In the first two shuffles, heavyweights like Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail, Abdur Razzaque, Abdul Jalil and Suranjit Sengupta were overlooked.
Tofail and Suranjit came under scathing criticism by party supporters – who branded them as 'reformists'– for siding with the military-backed caretaker government that detained Hasina in jail and tried to exile her.
From the Grand Alliance partners, Hasina brought two leaders in the Cabinet – Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammad Quader of Jatiya Party and Industries Minister Dilip Barua of Samyabadi Dal.
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