Shafique, Barua made PM advisors

Technocrat-turned ministers Shafique Ahmed and Dilip Barua, who were holding the law and industry portfolios respectively, have been appointed as Advisors to the Prime Minister.

They were left out of the election-time Cabinet.

With their appointment, the number of Advisors to the Prime Minister now stands at 10.

Jatiya Party Presidium member Ziuddin Ahmed Bablu was the last to be appointment as an Advisor to the Prime Minister.

The portfolios to the ministers of the election-time government were also allocated on Thursday. Sixteen ministers and 14 state ministers were dropped from the interim cabinet, constituted to supervise the next national election.

Former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Shafique Ahmed and General Secretary of Samyabadi Dal, an ally of the Awami League-led Grand Alliance, Dilip Barua were among the 30 ministers.

Shafique was given the charge of the Law ministry while Dilip was made the Industry minister at the beginning of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Grand Alliance government in Jan 2009.

Another technocrat Yafes Osman, who was State Minister for Science and Technology, also did not find a place in the interim government.

As part of the initiative to form the election-time ‘all-party’ government, Ziuddin Bablu was appointed as an Advisor to the Prime Minister on Nov 18.

Those who had been inducted in the polls-time cabinet that day are all MPs, but none of the advisors are MPs.

There are rumours that more may be appointed as Advisors to the Prime Minister ahead of the election.

With the latest appointment of three more Advisors to the Prime Minister, the number of advisors who enjoy status of a minister stands at 10 now.

H T Imam (Public Administration affairs), Mashiur Rahman (Economic affairs), Syed Modasser Ali (Health & Family and Social Welfare affairs), Alauddin Ahmed (Education, Social Development and Political affairs), Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury (Energy affairs), Gowher Rizvi (International affairs), Tarique Ahmed Siddique (Security affairs) have been earlier appointed as Advisors to the Prime Minister.

Portfolios have not been allocated to the three new advisors.