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Published : 17 Feb 2026, 06:31 PM
A wave of newcomers has taken charge as the new government begins under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
Of the 49 lawmakers sworn in as ministers and state ministers, 41 are serving in the cabinet for the first time.
The remaining nine have prior experience in different parliaments.
The new cabinet, sworn in Tuesday afternoon at the South Plaza of parliament, comprises 25 full ministers and 24 state ministers.
Of the 25 ministers, 16 are first‑time entrants.
Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim government, attended the swearing-in of the new government accompanied by his daughter, Deena Afroz. Among the advisors present were Asif Nazrul, Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar.
The ceremony also drew a strong international presence. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Health and Mass Media Nalinda Jayatissa, and Nepal’s Foreign Minister Bala Nanda Sharma were among the foreign dignitaries who attended.
One of the biggest surprises in Tarique’s cabinet was Khalilur Rahman, who had served the interim government as national security advisor and high representative on the Rohingya issue.
His tenure had been controversial, particularly over debates surrounding port leases to foreign companies and a proposed Rohingya corridor, prompting some within the BNP to call for his removal.
A former foreign service officer, Khalilur has been appointed foreign minister as a technocrat.
Another technocrat sworn in as minister was Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid Yasin, general secretary of the BNP’s Cumilla district unit.
A member of the 1996 parliament, Yasin had prepared to contest in the Cumilla-6 (Sadar) seat in the latest election under the BNP banner.
The party nomination, however, went to Monirul Haque Chowdhury, an advisor to the BNP chair. Although Yasin initially readied himself to run as an independent, he withdrew from the race on Jan 19.
Former footballer Md Aminul Haque, sports secretary of the BNP’s central executive committee and convenor of Dhaka (north) BNP, has also entered the government as a technocrat state minister.
Aminul contested in Dhaka-16 but lost to Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Md Abdul Baten. He has now been assigned responsibility as state minister for sports.
While the new cabinet features a large number of fresh faces, many seasoned BNP leaders have been left out.
Those excluded include members of the party’s highest policymaking body, the Standing Committee, as well as vice-chairpersons and senior advisors.
Multiple sources close to the BNP chief said some of the sidelined senior figures may still be considered for important roles later.
Among Standing Committee members who did not make it into the cabinet are Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Goyeswar Chandra Roy and Abdul Moyeen Khan -- all of whom had served in the cabinet of the late prime minister Khaleda Zia.
Former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, former state minister Selima Rahman, and Nazrul Islam Khan, who headed BNP’s electioneering committee this year, were also excluded.
Several former ministers whose names had circulated ahead of the cabinet announcement -- including Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Barkat Ullah Bulu -- were ultimately left out, as were former state ministers Lutfozzaman Babar and Aman Ullah Aman.
Speculation that Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Joint Secretary General Habibun Nabi Khan Sohel might enter the cabinet as technocrats also did not materialise.
From allied parties, Tarique appointed Ganosamhati Andolan Chief Coordinator Zonayed Saki, Gono Odhikar Parishad President Nurul Haque Nur, and NDM Chairman Bobby Hajjaj as state ministers, reflecting an effort to broaden the coalition’s footprint in government.
Of the 25 full ministers appointed to the new cabinet, 16 are serving in a cabinet for the first time. They are:
Those with prior experience of serving in the cabinet are:
All 24 state ministers sworn in this time are first-timers with no previous cabinet experience. They are:
The gazette notification of results for all 297 seats in the parliamentary elections has been published.
BNP won 209 seats, while the Jamaat-e-Islami followed with 68 seats. The remaining seats were won by candidates from different alliances, parties and independents.
Among the winners in this election, around 150 are first-time members of parliament.
