Cabinet reshuffle to see 3 new faces
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
In a bid for what is appearing as a step towards its first major reshuffle, the Cabinet is going to reappoint two state ministers as ministers as well as appoint three ruling leaders as its new members.
According to sources at the Cabinet Division, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan and State Minister for Science and Technology Yafes Osman are going to get the status of full ministers while Chittagong AL leader and former MP Nurul Islam will be appointed as minister, a news agency report said.
Besides, Nuruzzaman Ahmed, MP of Lalmonirhat-2 constituency, and Tarana Halim, MP of reserved seat-16, will be appointed as state ministers.
As per the programme schedule of the President’s Office, President Abdul Hamid is likely to administer the oath of the new Cabinet members at Bangabhan at 6pm.
Awami League sources said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is going to restructure her 19-month-old cabinet to bring dynamism into her administrative line-up.
Earlier on July 9, Hasina relieved AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam from the LGRD Ministry making him a minister without portfolio.
It was the second change in Hasina’s third-term cabinet as Posts and Telecommunications Minister Abdul Latif Siddique was dropped from the Cabinet on October 12 last year for his anti-Islamic remarks in the USA.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain replaced Syed Ahsraf.
At present, two cabinet posts remain vacant following Latif Siddique’s removal and change in the portfolio of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister. Khandaker Mosharraf is now looking after his previous ministry as his additional charge.
Some ministers, meanwhile, have run into trouble with controversies after Awami League president Sheikh Hasina was sworn is as the Prime Minister for the second consecutive term formed the government comprising a 51-member cabinet.
Her current cabinet comprises 30 ministers, 18 state ministers and two deputy ministers.
Besides, she has five advisers with the status of ministers.