Hasina extends cabinet

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday extended her cabinet by inducting three new faces and promoting two state ministers to the position of minister in a major reshuffle.

Chittagong city ruling Awami League leader Nurul Islam BSc, state minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan and state minister for science and technology Yeafesh Osman were sworn in as ministers while Lalmonirhat 2 Member of Parliament Nuruzzaman Ahmed and reserved seat MP Tarana Halim took oath as state ministers.
President Md Abdul Hamid administered the oath taking at around 6:30pm at Bangabhaban.
Sheikh Hasina, along with her cabinet members and officials, among others, attended the ceremony.
The changes in the cabinet came amidst huge criticism from various quarters against food minister Qumrul Islam for import of low quality wheat from Brazil.
Nurul Islam has been given the portfolio of the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry, Tarana Halim got the telecommunications ministry and Nuruzzaman was given the food ministry while LGRD minister Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain has been relieved of his additional responsibility of the expatriates’ welfare ministry, said a gazette notification issued in the evening.
The portfolios of Asaduzzaman and Yeafesh Osman remained unchanged.
Cabinet secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan signed the notification on the portfolio distribution.
There are now 32 ministers, 20 state ministers and two deputy ministers in the reshuffled cabinet.
This was the first major reshuffle in the cabinet of Sheikh Hasina since the present government of Awami League assumed office on January 12 last year for the second consecutive term following the one-sided January 5, 2014 elections boycotted by all the opposition political parties.
‘My responsibility has increased. I will try my best to discharge my responsibility with utmost sincerity,’ Asaduzzaman told New Age.
Hasina extended her cabinet for the first time on February 26, 2014 by inducting Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali as foreign minister and Nazrul Islam as state minister for water resources.
The prime minister on July 9, 2015 removed LGRD and cooperatives minister Syed Ashraful Islam from the ministry and gave the charge of the LGRD ministry to Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain in addition to his responsibility of expatriates’ welfare ministry.
Ashraf has been made minister without portfolio as the PM was reportedly unhappy with his performance.
On October 12 last year, telecom minister Abdul Latif Siddique was fired from the cabinet of Sheikh Hasina in the face of widespread protests against his recent remarks on Islam, its Prophet Mohammad (SM) and hajj.