In a surprise move, some heavyweight ministers and senior Awami League leaders have been dropped from Sheikh Hasina’s new Cabinet.
Even though there have been speculations that the finance minister of the last Cabinet, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith,will not return for another term, exclusion of several party stalwarts, including Matia Chowdhury and Tofail Ahmed,has been a real surprise.
Some of the other surprise exclusions include Amir Hossain Amu, Asaduzzaman Noor and Shajahan Khan, who served as the industries minister, cultural affairs minister and shipping minister, respectively, in the previous Cabinet.
The news came when Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alamon Sunday evening, in an unprecedented move,announced the names of the newly elected lawmakers of the 11th parliament who were included in the new Cabinet.
This Cabinet will have one prime minister, 24 ministers, 19 state ministers and three deputy ministers. All of them will be sworn in by President Md Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban on Monday.
The dropped ministers
Apart from Muhith, Amu, Tofail, Matia, Noor and Shajahan, the heavyweight ministers who were not brought back for another term in the Cabinet are former health minister Mohammed Nasim, former LGRD minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, former information minister Hasanul Haq Inu, and former social welfare minister Rashed Khan Menon, former housing and public works minister Mosharraf Hossain, former textiles and jute minister Md Emaz Uddin Pramanik, former education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, former disaster management and relief minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, and former foreign affairs minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.
The dropped state ministers
Apart from the ministers,the heavyweight state ministers who were excluded from the new Cabinet are former state minister of labour and employment (Independent Charge)Md Mujibul Haque Chunnu, former state minister for textiles and jute Mirza Azam, former state minister of youth and sports (Independent Charge) Biren Sikder, former state minister of public administration Ismat Ara Sadique, former state minister of women and children affairs (Independent Charge) Meher Afroze Chumki, former state minister of information Tarana Halim, former state minister of water resources Muhammad Nazrul Islam, and former state minister for technical and madrasa education division Kazi Keramat Ali.
