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Published : 02 Jan 2018, 03:06 PM
The Bangabhaban has informed the press that President Md Abdul Hamid is scheduled to swear-in the new cabinet members at 6:30pm. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also expected to join.
A Bangabhaban official said that the cabinet division has asked them to arrange an oath-taking ceremony for four persons.
And the transportation pool of the government has kept cars prepared at its workshop for the new cabinet members.
“Cars with chauffeurs are ready. We will send them away according to the cabinet division’s request,” a transportation pool official told bdnews24.com.
Four cars were seen driving out from the pool around 2pm, which were then parked in front of the cabinet division building.
On Monday, the cabinet division contacted four persons and asked them to be present at the Bangabhaban for the oath-taking.
State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Narayon Chandra Chanda will be promoted as a minister.
Jabbar, 68, president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services or BASIS, will be made a technocrat minister as he is not elected to parliament.
Chanda, 72, who has been elected MP from Khulna-5 thrice, served as a state minister when the Awami League formed the government for the second consecutive term in 2014.
Laxmipur-3 MP Shajahan has been serving as the president of ruling party’s district unit for a long time.
Apart from new inclusion, rumours are there that a cabinet shuffle may also take place.
A Cabinet Division official, requesting anonymity, said ‘one or two’ members of the cabinet, who have created controversy with their activities, would be replaced with new ones while portfolios of ‘some others’ would change.
Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam did not provide details on the cabinet expansion, but said: “You will get to know when it happens.”
Changes in Hasina’s cabinet
In past two years, speculations on a cabinet reshuffle were heard several times, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina brought no major changes to the council of ministers.
The Awami League government started its second term by forming a cabinet of 49 members on Jan 12, 2014.
After another one and a half months, AH Mahmood Ali was sworn in as foreign minister. Mohammad Nazrul Islam became state minister for water resources at the time.
In October the same year, Abdul Latif Siddique lost his place in the cabinet for his comments on the Hajj.
On July 9 the next year, Hasina fired the then Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam as LGRD minister.
Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, in charge of expatriates welfare and overseas ministry at the time, became LGRD minister.
The next week, Chittagong Awami League leader Nurul Islam BSc was made a minister while Tarana Halim and Nuruzzaman Ahmed became state minister.
The then state ministers Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and Yeafesh Osman were elevated the same day.
Hasina gave Syed Ashraf the charge of public administration ministry after two more days on July 16 that year.
Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali died undergoing treatment in Singapore on Sept 14 the same year.
State minister for Social Welfare Promod Mankin died in a hospital in India on May 11, 2016.
On June 19 that year, the government moved State Minister Nuruzzaman from the food ministry to social welfare ministry.
After the death of Sayedul, Hasina’s cabinet now has 30 ministers, 17 state ministers and two deputy ministers.
Besides them, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad and the five advisers to the prime minister enjoy the status of minister.
