8 new ministers take oath
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.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 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.
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