Nurul Islam, Tarana, others take oath in unannounced Cabinet changes

Three new ministers have been added to Sheikh Hasina’s government and two old ones elevated to Cabinet in a first major shuffle since she began her third five-year term as prime minister.

Nurul Islam BSc, a 2008 MP from Chittagong and a businessman, has become a minister for the first time, and will replace Khandker Mosharraf Hossain at the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Yeafesh Osman have been promoted to full Cabinet rank, and retained their old portfolios.

Tarana Halim, a reserved seat MP, and Nuruzzaman Ahmed MP, of Lalmonirhat-2, have been sworn in as state ministers.

The former actress will take care of telecom ministry, vacant for nearly 10 months since the departure of Abdul Latif Siddique, the cabinet minister who got the sack for his controversial remarks on religion.

The north Bengal MP will be at the food ministry, a decision that might be interpreted by many as a signal for impending departure of controversial Qamrul Islam.

The prime minister was in attendance as President Md Abdul Hamid swore them in at a Bangabhaban ceremony on Tuesday evening.

Senior ministers Tofail Ahmed, AMA Muhith, Amir Hossain Amu and Matia Chowdhury were also present among others.

Rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle have been swirling over the past few days, but there was no word on the development from the government.

Names of the new ministers were known only after civil servants put name tags on their seats for the formal ceremony at the presidential palace.

Nurul Islam, who owns and runs Sanowara Group, on Monday told bdnews24.com that the Cabinet Secretary had called him up and asked to be “ready”.

Islam, the vice-president of the ruling party’s Chittagong metropolitan unit, became an MP in 2008 from a city constituency as a rebel candidate.

He had to vacate the Chittagong-8 seat for Jatiya Party’s Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu in parliamentary elections last year.

Islam, a member of the commerce ministry standing committee in the previous Parliament, sits on the board of NCC Bank.

Tarana Halim also had received a call from the Cabinet secretary on Monday.
 
A relative of slain finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, she is a member of the parliamentary standing committee on information ministry.
 
In her teens, she won the ‘Notun Kurhi’ championship, a nationwide BTV talent hunt, and then went on to make a name for herself as an actress.
 
She was the women affairs secretary of the Awami Juba League when she studied at the Dhaka University. She was elected MP to reserved seats for women last year for a second time.
 
Awami League leader Nuruzzaman Ahmed was elected MP from the Lalmonirhat seat in the last parliamentary polls for the first time.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who was made minister of home affairs, had earlier confirmed to bdnews24.com of getting the call for promotion.
 
Yeafesh Osman, made full minister on Tuesday, has been serving as the state minister for science and technology as a technocrat for the last seven years.
 
This was the first Cabinet shakeup after Sheikh Hasina formed government for a second consecutive time in January last year.
 
Hasina and her council of ministers were sworn in on Jan 12, 2014.
 
AH Mahmood Ali was given charge of the foreign ministry, while Nazrul Islam was made the state minister for water resources on Feb 26 that year.
 
Last year in October, then telecoms minister Abdul Latif Siddique was dropped from the Cabinet for his controversial remark on Hajj. He was subsequently expelled from the Awami League too.
 
Last week, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain was given charge of the LGRD ministry after Sheikh Hasina removed Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam from that ministerial post.
 
Ashraf, however, was kept in the Cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
 
Until now, there were 29 ministers, 18 ministers of state and two deputy ministers.
 
The prime minister also has a special envoy who enjoys the rank and status of a minister and five advisers.