President
Abdul Hamid administers oath to six new ministers at the Darbar Hall of
Bangabhaban in the capital today. All these new ministers are lawmakers
from the constituents of the Awami League-led grand alliance and will
join an election time cabinet. Photo: SK Enamul Huq
Six
ministers and two state ministers took oath to join an election time
cabinet this afternoon amid boycott by the main opposition party, BNP.
President Abdul Hamid administered the oath at the Darbar Hall of Bangabhaban.
All the new ministers are lawmakers from the constituents of the Awami League-led grand alliance.
The new ministers are: Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed (Awami
League), Rashed Khan Menon (Workers Party), and Anisul Islam Mahmud,
Ruhul Amin Hawlader and Rawshan Ershad (Jatiya Party).
The state ministers are: Mujibul Haque Chunnu and Salma Islam (Jatiya Party).
Meanwhile, Jatiya Party presidium member Ziauddin Bablu will be
appointed as an adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today, Cabinet
Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told The Daily Star.
He will be of the rank of a minister.
“Though his name was heard as possible new face on the polls-time
cabinet, the PM did not include him in the cabinet since he is not an
elected lawmaker,” a source in the ruling party said.
BNP and its allies in the 18-party opposition combine have rejected
the PM’s call to join an all-party government which will oversee the
next general election.
In an address to the nation on October 18, Sheikh Hasina proposed to
form an all-party government instead of having unelected people running
the country.
The opposition has long been demanding restoration of the caretaker
government, a constitutional provision which was annulled in June 2011
following a Supreme Court verdict.
The 18-party maintains that the election will not be fair if it is held under the political government.
As political impasse deepened and scores of people died during
political demonstration, there were a flurry of diplomatic efforts to
resolve the crisis.
UN secretary-general telephoned both the PM Sheikh Hasina and
opposition leader Khaleda Zia and US Secretary of State John Kerry wrote
letters to them asking for sitting in dialogue to resolve the crisis
and ensure a free and fair election. But it has yielded no result so
far.
A one-sided election without the BNP and its allies now looks more of
a reality, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina moved to form the polls-time
cabinet, picking its new members from among her party-led grand
alliance.
-Star Online Report
